


Caught In A Storm

by Chocolateflower



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: ...and more snow, AU, Adrien eats sweets, Arranged Marriage, Baker Mari, Baking, Casts, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, First Love, Fluff, Fluffy, Friendship, Funny, Hiding the truth, Horse Plagg, Horse Tikki, Hurt, King Gabriel Agreste, Kissing, Letters, Lies, Location: Bakery, Love, Love Troubles, Marriage, NO DEATHS, No Character Death, Not Medivial, Pastries, Royalty, Running Away, Slightly more modern, Smitten, Snow, Soulmates, The Fluffiest!, Travels, True Love, Valet Nino, Winter, Winter and Spring, duties, fiancee, finding The One, fluffer, love letter, no powers, prince - Freeform, prince Adrien, proposal, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 24,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolateflower/pseuds/Chocolateflower
Summary: AU: Prince Adrien got caught in a snow storm, but a kind soul comes to his rescue. Will he be able to stay as long as he would like too? How are his lies going to blow up? While a new promising friendship blossoms, the king is getting anxious about his son being back for a more than important, oncomming event...All rights and characters belong to Thomas Astruc and his team.Crossposted on FF





	1. Chapter 1

" Prince Adrien, I told you we had to seek shelter earlier. Now it´s snowing, and the hotels are on the opposite side of the city, we won´t make it in time before the snow storm! Your father, the king, will kill me when his Majesty learns, you died frozen! Arghhhh I…" stated Nino, the valet of Prince Adrien.

"Nino! Stop worrying! If I´m going to die, you too. Father won´t have the possibility to kill you." Adrien said casually.

"Thank you Prince it surely is reassuring!" Nino responded sarcastically.

"Look, there is a stall over there. Let´s gather our horses and stay there until the storm has stopped." Adrien ordered.

They walked under the heavy falling snow towards the stall. Both sighed in relief as they discovered the warmth inside. The stall was small, there already was a white horse inside, which appeared to be unphased by the visitors and kept munching something. Adrien and Nino made their way inside with their horses. After eating everything they had left, they decided to take a nap, while the storm calmed down. They were exhausted from the turn of this day. They hadn´t slpet well for a few days now, the weather getting colder and colder. Even if it wasn´t as comfirtable as home, Prince Adrien felt much better here than anywhere else.

Adrien woke up with the sound of a sliding door and light footsteps. His body willed him to fall back asleep and ignore the unknown sound.

_Probably Nino anyway..._

"I´m so sorry Tikki, I completely forgot to give you something to eat! I was so busy at the bakery. With Maman and Papa gone, I totally forgot. Here I brought you a cookie, your favourite. Let´s get you more to eat… Aaaaaaahhhhh!"

Nino and Adrien bolted right up quickly at the young girl´s scream. She instantly grabbed a nearby shovel and presented it menacingly to both young men.

"W-What are you doing here? What are you doing in my stall?" She tried to ask menancigly, but it came out with a slight tone of fear.

Nino slowly made his way in front of Adrien to fulfil his duty to protect him (even from furious/scared girls) and calmly explained:

"The snow storm caught us by surprise, we are extremely sorry. We are not here to steal your horse or your supplies; we are just waiting for the end of the storm."

Suddenly feeling like she overreacted, the young girl didn´t know how to respond. "Oh! U-Umm I-I´m sorry, I should have known- I just walked here and felt the storm- umm- saw the storm-uuh…". She scratched her arm sheepishly.

"Don´t be sorry, I would have had the same reaction." Nino stated.

An awkward silence began. Nobody knew what they were supposed to do or say in this particular situation. Thy stood awkwardly staring at each other, waiting for someone to raise their voice and say something. What better way to start a conversation than to talk about the weather?

"W-well you might as well get comfy; I heard the storm will last long…well it was like that at least last year..."

As if on cue, the men's´ stomach began to gurgle. The girl started to quietly giggle quietly behind her hand.

"Come with me, I think you will be better in a real house than with the horses."

She started to walk out, and Adrien and Nino had to run to catch up with her.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien and Nino followed the young woman through the storm. They had to stay close, it was difficult to see through the snow, which didn´t want to stop falling. Their eyes and skin prickled from the cold and the wind. The icy wind making them their skeletons shudder.The ground was already covered in many layers of white fluffy snow, it already reached the woman´s top of her calf, but she was rather small, so it didn´t shock Adrien much. The moment Adrien noticed his nose was beginning to freeze, the woman halted and put her keys into the lock of the massive front door. Her hands had gotten so cold that she dropped the keys multiple in the snow. After a few minutes, she finally managed to open the door and stormed in with Prince Adrien and Nino high on her heels. Warmth surrounded them completely, as she rapidly closed the door behind them and locked it – she didn´t want more strangers in her house than necessary-.

"You can t-take off your coats. It´s pretty warm here, with all t-thhe ovens."

Adrien was confused, why was she talking about ovens? He looked around him and discovered he was standing in the middle of a small bakery. He saw multitudes of loafs and pastries. His mouth watered as he smelled the delicious scent and he suddenly shivered. There were puddles of melted snow everywhere around them. Their clothes and hair were soaked in with cold water and dripped on the hard-wood floor.

"You can t-take a chair and go sit next to the o-ovens, they´re st-still w-warm." She left shortly after. Adrien sent Nino a questioning look, to which his valet simply shrugged. They followed the stream of warmth back to the bakery´s kitchen. They took off their coats and sat down, clearly enjoying the feeling of their numb limps slowly awakening from the cold.

After a while, the young woman came back, she changed into clean and dry clothes. She wore a simple dress, with details reminding him of the current fashion at the Court. Every woman wore small accents of pink and green. She entered the kitchen, took an apron from the back of one door and out it on. It was a red apron covered in black dots, the flour and stains of dough on it showed she worked here. She started to pull out a cutting board and starting chop different types of vegetables. Adrien looked over at Nino, who had fallen asleep. He stood up, curiosity flowing through him. He went up to her and leaned against the counter, with a respectful distance between her and him. He was the first heir to the throne of Miraculous. He spent years learning to have the right manners and respectful ways to communicate with different persons. The girl being a rather young lady, he stood a good meter away from her. She didn´t even register his presence, still chopping her vegetables and adding them into a pot full of water. He cleared his throat a little. Startled, she nearly chopped off the tip of her finger as she jumped in surprise and flinched further away from him.

"I am deeply sorry, Madame. I didn´t mean to startle you."

"O-oh no, don´t worry about it! Do y-you need so-something?"

"Oh? Me? Nonono, I umm… I wanted to thank you for your hospitality." She blushed at his compliment and looked away embarassed.

Adrien didn´t do well with other kids, so he didn´t know how to start a conversation. He had only Marquise Chloé of House Bourgeois as female friend. She never let him speak to other girls of their age during the various balls and gathering of the whole Court, so he had no experience. Well he had to admit to himself that he didn´t talk much to Chloé... she pretty did all of the talking. HIs thiughts were about to drift to unpleasant ones, but he quickly put an end to them, focussing on the present and not the future.

His days consisted of being with either Chloé or with his advisors, he didn´t know which company was the worst. Plus he practically never saw his father, ruling the kingdom was a full time job, family time was cut to the extreme minimum. Adrien stood straight in the kitchen with his hands fidgeting behind his back. He knew from his lessons that he had to help out women, or at least ask if they needed any help... not that he knew something about chopping vegetables…

"Do you need some help?", he offered.

"Oh?! Nono it´s alright, y-you don´t n-need to h-help me. You´re a gu-guest.", she answered still blushing.

"If you´re sure…"

She was definitely wasn´t making it easy to have a small-talk. Adrien knew she wouldn´t talk about the same things Chloé did. Adrien wasn´t dumb… at least he liked to think that way. Worlds separated their everyday-life and surroundings. Adrien observed her, she looked up at him for a second, and he saw fear in her eyes and her eye nervously twitched. What was she worried about? He thought of every single step he took in her house, what did he do wrong? They scared her and explained to her their situation, she invited them over and they had been enjoying the warmth ever since… it sure was unusual to invite strangers over, even Adrien knew strangers weren´t welcomed into their castle… Maybe she was scared because he was the Prince? Everybody knew the King wasn´t a friendly man, he ruled with an iron fist, maybe she thought his son was no better?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! :D
> 
> Eat some chocolate!


	3. Chapter 3

"Like he said, we are not going to hurt you and steal anything." He tried to ease her worries, his father was known for being reckless. He wanted her to known they would do her no harm. She visibly froze and looked up to him again; she nervously bit her lip and avoided his gaze. She didn´t calm down, she even seemed more worried.

"If you don´t feel comfortable, we can leave." Seeing her discomfort, Adrien thought it would be the only solution.

"No! It´s just… I didn´t really think and…suddenly there are two strangers next to me and…" She smiled nervously, still not feeling at ease next to the strangers she invited.

"Good evening, I´m Adrien. What´s your name?" And he extended his hand. Marinette stared between him and his hand, clearly taken aback by the turn of their situation.

"If you don´t want to tell me, I could always call you… Ladybug." He declared as he observed her polka-dotted apron. She blushed slightly, but shook her head and smiled a little.

"Hello, my name is Marinette." Now it as Adrien´s turn to be surprised. His eyes widened as she took his hand and started shaking it. He actually wanted to do a baisemain (kiss her hand).

"Are you named after the Prince? Prince Adrien?" Adrien stood frozen next to her.

_What did she just ask? Did she not recognize me?_

"Oh, um… yes? I mean… I don´t really know… Do you know him?"

"Me? No! (She laughed nervously) I-I never even saw him. We´re far from the kingdom, no royal member came here before… even if the whole village is friendly… I guess it´s too poor and too far away…" She shrugged and put the vegetables into the boiling water. "So… where are you two coming from?" She asked curiously, trying to find out more about these two strangers who showed up out of nowhere.

"Oh.. we, we come from… ehmm. We come from another kingdom." He lied, he felt like he couldn´t tell her the truth, couldn´t tell her he was the Prince of the kingdom, the Kingdom she was living in and the one his father was ruling over..

"Oh? Which one?"

_Why does she have to be curious!?_

"The kingdom of… Astruc!" Marinette looked confused, whereas Adrien was internally panicking.

"I never heard of it… what is it named after?"

"Uhhhmmm, a star… yeah, a star. It´s very very far far away…" He cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable having lied to her, eventhough he just had met her.

She simply nodded and took out three soup plates and spoons. After setting the table she took a loaf out and started cutting into slices. Finally she deposited the soup on the dining table and started pouring it into the plates. She gestured for him to sit down.

"Should I wake your… friend up?" Both looked at Nino, who was still snoring.

"No, if he´s really hungry, he´ll wake up." He sat down in front of her and waited for her to sit down as well. He had manners and waited for the hostess to start eating so he could start as well. While she cleaned the kitchen´s counter, she quickly looked at Adrien and saw him not touching the soup.

"Is something wrong with the soup?" she asked. She tried remembering a possible mistake, but soup was difficult to fail.

"Hm? Oh, no. I-I´m just waiting for you." Marinette made a surprised noise. She threw her rag into the sink and sat down.

Adrien looked at her being flustered and simply smiled at her. The colour of her cheeks darkened deeply and she started sipping at her spoon full of soup. The dishes couldn´t be compared to the ones, they had at the castle. Adrien was used to the finest porcelain of the whole kingdom, not that he wanted to complain. Adrien never complained, he even liked those dishes better. He saw her put crumbs of her bread into her soup and eating them. He tried it as well and was surprised that all of this tasted even better than some things he had to eat back at the castle. They ate in silence, they could only hear Nino´s snoring and the wind blowing outside. Adrien noticed she must have been on her own before they came.

 _At the castle, women are never alone… why is she all alone? Is it different on the countryside? I wouldn´t know…_ His curiosity took over and he asked her.

"My parents left a few days ago… I don´t know when they are going to come back… depends on the weather I guess…" Adrien nodded, he never thought a girl would be left alone like that, she didn´t even seem anxious or scared about it. Adrien was never left alone as well, he always was supervised. He never had some time for himself, only when he was safe in his room. He couldn´t do anything on his own, the only time he appreciated was when he was with Nino. He was and is more than just a valet to him, he is the only person he considered a friend.


	4. Chapter 4

The old wooden clock struck seven o´clock. The seventh sound woke Nino up. Startled, he nearly fell of his chair, but quickly recovered as he gripped the near counter. He walked up to the clock, his pupils dilating as he recognized how late it actually was.

"Why didn´t you wake me up?" He nearly yelled at Adrien, who simply shrugged, not knowing what to answer. His stomach growled, but he didn´t appear to register it, quickly crossing the room to look out of the window. The sky was the colour of charcoal, even at this hour, but it was winter, so it was normal.

"We have to leave. It´s already dark outside and we have to continue our journey." He made his way to open the front door. The moment he opened it, an icy blow made its way into the house, nearly freezing all of them. He quickly slammed the door shut and turned around. Marinette muffled her giggles in her hand, as she saw him covered in a small layer of snow, even if he only was a second at the door.

"The snow storm hasn´t stopped Nino." Adrien tapped the snow off his friend, while Marinette offered him a slice of bread.

"Yeah… I think I just figured that. But thanks", mumbled Nino.

Adrien seemed to be thinking hard and spoke up after a couple minutes.

"Well, we can´t continue our trip with this weather…" He turns to Marinette. "Could we sleep in your stall tonight? I know it is a lot to ask, but…" Marinette´s stunned expression worried Adrien a lot.

 _Did I go overboard?_ He looked at Nino, trying to seek for some help, but he only shrugged.

"Oh-I- umm- I could give you bl-blankets, but I think you´ll fr-freeze to dea-death, if you s-stay in the s-stall…and it-it´s not really com-comfortable..."

"Yeah… that wouldn´t be great…", managed to joke Nino. Marinette fidgeted nervously with her hands, she appeared to be thinking about something, but was nervous to express herself.

"I-I might h-have a better i-idea… y-you could stay h-here for the nigh-t…?" Both Nino and Adrien were speechless at her proposition.

"That´s really thoughtful of you, but we can´t accept that.", responded Adrien. Nino rapidly turned his shoulder in order to face him. They started discussing something between the two of them. Marinette didn´t hear anything, but could only tell they were arguing about something about security and duty… which she didn´t understand. They separated, Nino had a triumphant smile.

"If it doesn´t bother you, we would like to accept your offer." Marinette simply nodded, not trusting her voice. Deciding she still had time to decide where they would sleep, she went into her parents´ room to take out spare blankets and pillows. She deposited them on the dining table. The two men stood a little awkwardly in the main room, not knowing how they could help since. She didn´t mind the weird posture, but started to quickly make up a plan. All of their properties were in her parents´ room, so it was out of the question that they would sleep there. Even if the blond appeared to be a kind person, she didn´t want to test if he was going to steal anything from their family. Her room would be better suited. She had a bed and a chaise, so they could sleep separated. She didn´t have anything with value, so it wouldn´t be a problem to let them sleep there. She quickly left to go to her room, tried to clean it up a bit and raced back to the main room to get the blankets. As she reached for them, the blond beat her to it. She blushed bright red, as he gently moved her hands away and smiled sweetly.

"T-thank you." She stuttered.

He put the blankets on his shoulders and picked up the two pillows. She walked him to her room and pointed to her bed and chaise. Adrien simply nodded and put one pillow and one blanket on each one. She had removed her blanket and pillow beforehand and threw the blanket over the bed. Adrien stood still behind her, and tried to mimic her movements with the blanket for the chaise. He whipped around as he heard the sound of the floor squeaking, only to see Nino leaning against the doorframe.

Once they were settled in, Marinette wished them a good night and dashed away, closing the door soundlessly behind her. She let put a deep exhale once she had locked the door of her parents´ bedroom behind her. She quickly changed into her cold pyjamas and jumped under her fluffy blanket. She fell asleep rapidly after she settled in a comfortable position.

While Marinette was sleeping, the two young men were engaged in a heated discussion.


	5. Chapter 5

"Nino! You forced her to let us stay! Why did you do that? Have you seen how uncomfortable she looked?" Adrien whisper-screamed, clearly nit happy about his friend´s/valet´s decision to accept her kind offer.

"Prince Adrien, my first job is to make sure you are safe. And she´s obligated to shelter a royal member. You´re the Prince, so that´s includes you!" Nino countered.

"Nino, you have to call me Adrien. No Prince or Majesty etc." Nino gave him a confused look.

"Why? Remember what you dad said?" He frowned. Adrien looked down and mumbled something Nino couldn´t possibly understand. He asked him to repeat more loudly.

"You´re my friend! I hate it when people call me that… and I don´t want her to know." He answered mumbling the last part.

"She doesn´t know?" Ninos´ eyes were open-wide in surprise.

"No, she doesn´t know. And I might have told her we come from the kingdom of Astruc…" Adrien fidgetted with his hands, scared of his valet´s reaction. His jaw dropped.

"You lied to her? Why don´t you want her to know?" Adrien shook his head at his reaction, Nino just didn´t understand… Adrien swallowed with difficulty, he took his time to find his words.

"I-She is the first person to treat me like one normal human being… just like you do… but without the Majesty or Prince… you know I don´t like that…" Nino stayed silent. In the end he nodded and made his way to the chaise, ready to get some sleep. Adrien bolted in front of him, stopping from going any further.

"You take the bed! I take the chaise!" he declared. Nino frowned.

"No! You take the bed."

Using Adrien´s lack of reactivity, he nearly ran to the chaise and threw himself on it. Seeing Nino had defeated him, he made his way to the rather small bed. He laid down, marvelling at how comfortable in actually was. Sure, it wasn´t as comfortable as the one he had back in the castle, but since they had been staying at hotels for the past months, this bed couldn´t compare the hotels´ beds. He draped the blanket over himself. It smelled like floor and sugar, which left him with a contented smile. He could already hear the soft snores of Nino. He was definitely envying him to be able to fall asleep that fast. He always needed some time, so he decided to look around him, before turning of the light. It was a rather small bedroom, with no special decorations on the walls or paintings hanging everywhere. There was a small desk located near the chaise, which was covered in different papers. He couldn´t see what was on them. The curtains were drawn, but he could nearly hear the snowflakes hitting the window. The wind continued to howl outside. He turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. He fell asleep, enjoying the warmth still coming from the ovens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> So this is the last small update for a very long time. I don´t have any more free time to continue writing.  
> So sorry, but you´ll have to be super patient. :(
> 
> Eat some chocolate!


	6. Chapter 6

Marinette woke up before the sun himself decided to show itself. She dragged her feet to the bakery´s kitchen. She took out all the ingredients she needed and that she had left. The winter made the deliveries more difficult. She made different types of dough, varying the flour she had in order to obtain different types of bread. She placed them next to the still warm oven to make the dough produce carbon dioxide so it could inflate. She still had some branches left to start a fire to warm up the oven. Pilling the wood in her arms, she threw it under the oven. The flames slowly awakened the old oven them had had for multiple generations of Dupain bakers. She worked on the whipped cream next, rapidly batting the cream so it would harden. After getting a quick taste, she approved and set it near the window to keep it cool. Even if it was warm inside, it was very cold next to the windows; there were already old, and the cold made its way easily inside.

Adrien woke up to the smell of warm bread. He felt slightly sweaty; it was getting really warm under the covers. He kicked the covers aside, but still felt the lingering warmth. He opened his eyes, freaked out for a second, not knowing where he was, but he quickly remembered the kind soul with the deepest blue eyes that saved them from their imminent death from hypothermia. He drifted his gaze over to Nino, who appeared to be still sleeping, concluding from the weird position he had on the chaise. The sun leaked through the curtains, leaving the room to bath in some stray sunbeams. Hearing some faint noise downstairs he decided to head towards the kitchen.

The old stairs creaked under the pressure of his feet; he stopped at the door frame, watching Marinette moving around the ovens and the atelier. She was dancing around the room, knowing every corner. She easily carried trays full of bread and pastries. The warmth of the ovens was very welcoming. Adrien stepped close, still letting her her space. She didn´t stop her humming, Adrien couldn´t remember where he had heard that melody… it seemed so familiar. Shaking his head, he continued to admire the spectacle in front of him. She twirled around and Adrien begun to be aware a little too late that she was heading towards him. She continued twirling and slightly bumped into him. Before she could fall over, Adrien caught her in his arms, his hands on her waist. Marinettes´ eyes were wide in surprise and she first couldn´t grasp what had happened. Her gaze drifted over from his chest to his eyes and her face turned red. Seeing her flustered state, Adrien could only blush as well. They stayed like in their position for more than a minute frozen in shock: his hands at her waist, her hands on his chest. After Adrien managed to avert his eyes from her gaze, he took the position they were in and let go of her nearly immediately. Not knowing what to do with their hands, both started to make some weird gestures, but settled to put their hands into their respective pockets of their trousers or apron.

"I-em- sorry for… you know…" Adrien managed to utter out, making Marinette´s face turn redder.

"N-nono, i-it´s my fault! S-Sorry!" They stood awkwardly facing one another, until Marinette broke the silence, telling him breakfast was ready if he wanted or was hungry. Adrien nodded enthusiastically.

He followed Marinette to their dining table, she had already set everything on the table, she only needed to get some bread and pastries from the shop, she excused herself and Adrien sat down. His mouth watered at the sight of the different sorts of jams, each one so colourful. Marinette came back rapidly with a small tablet full of pastries and slices of different breads. Waiting for her to sit down, Adrien decided they didn´t need to wait for Nino. Marinette took a slice of bread and began eating it with what appeared to be strawberry jam. She hummed as she took her first bite. Sometimes the simplest things are the tastiest. Adrien could only stare at the jam that rested on the tip of her nose, unattainable. She caught him staring and tried to wipe at her cheeks and chin. Adrien chuckled and took his napkin, wiping her nose. She blushed at the contact. Realising what he had done, Adrien averted his gaze instantly, blushing as well, putting all his attention on the croissant in his plate. He took a quick bite into it, his muscles relaxing at the wonderful buttery taste. He sunk deeper into his comfortable chair. A small smile grazed his lips. Marinette observed him from the corner of her eyes and a smile tucked at her lips as she saw his pleased state. He eagerly dug into the pile of croissants, not that she minded. At least she was sure she could sell it and her father could be proud of her work. The doorbell chimed and she got up to the shop.

"Marinette! How can you be working by those temperatures, it´s freezing outside! I nearly couldn´t make it up to here with all the snow on the road!" exclaimed an elderly man. Marinette giggled.

"Père Tuck, somebody has to feed you! If I don´t work this house will turn into a popsicle!" Both laughed, and her laughter made Adrien´s heart warm oddly, but he shook the feeling off.

"The usual?" She asked as their laughter died down. He simply nodded and she began to pack everything he needed, adding a cookie knowing he liked them so much. He paid and buttoned his coat again in attempt to block out the cold.

After he left, Marinette came back to the dining table, a warm smile grazing her face, making Adrien´s blush. They ate in a comfortable silence until they heard the stairs creaking under Nino´s feet.

"Good Morning Miss. Good Moring Pr-A-Adrien." He quickly corrected as Adrien shot him an angry look. He sat down next to him, trying to act like he wasn´t about to make any mistake. Nino started a conversation about the weather, Marinette updated him on the state of the roads from what she had heard from the few courageous customers who came to her shop. Nino frowned as he heard every road was covered in snow, they had a strict schedule to follow, he had sworn to protect the Prince. Someone even said the mail wasn´t even delivered anymore, making his frown deepen. He was obligated to send infos about their location and how the Prince was doing every 3 days to the King. What would happen if he couldn´t send anything? He hoped the King would be alarmed about the unusual weather.

"Is it usual here to have this kind of weather here?" asked Adrien out of curiosity, little did he know that he mostly wanted to hear her voice again. Marinette shrugged, which made his mood drop a little, thinking she wouldn´t answer verbally.

"I-it depends. When I w-was little, we always had a mild winter, but in the last f-few years snow storms were more and m-more common. I-if I was given the choice to change t-the weather like back to the old days, I would definitely agree." She smiled up to him, making his brain turn to mush. He didn´t know what she was doing to her, not that he minded, but he had no idea what it meant.

"Well at home, we have a cold winter, but not as much snow as here!" He laughed slightly. "If I want to see snow again, I know I´ll come here."

"There isn´t much to do here in the winter…" answered Marinette truthfully.

"Well, I know this superb bakery…" He smirked at her and she blushed, wanting to bury her head in the next bag of flour. It earned him a questioning look from Nino. He simply shrugged it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I am terribly sorry for not having updated in a while... well in two months :( I had no time to continue writing and my ideas for continuing weren´t great. I still don´t know where this is going, so if you have a few ideas, you know how to contact me (thank you in advance :) ). I might have an idea, but I have no idea how to write it ^^" So the next update will take a while again, sorry.
> 
> I still hope you liked this chapter :D
> 
> Feel free to leave comments :)
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!
> 
> Might want to read the last chapter(s) again, since it took me so long to post another chapter :( Sorry!

Nino spent the day alterning between eating, taking naps and throwing a ball against a wall. Adrien on the other hand, mostly stayed next to her side, observing her small hands making and forming doughs she would be using to bake bread in a few hours. It was fascinating how her small, lithe fingers formed such beautiful creations from so many basic ingredients. She smiled as she saw his interest in what she was doing, his curiosity clearly showing in his eyes. She was forming a small loaf of bread under his watchful gaze.

"D-do you want to try?" she asked him after having already formed more than ten baguettes. He looked up from her hands to her bluebell eyes, his breath catching in his throat as he looked directly into her bluebell eyes. Adrien could bet on the fact that her eyes were the most beautiful of the planet, even the Universe. He had never seen such an intense blue colour, even the blue sky or the clear ocean couldn´t compare to her intense azure eyes. He nodded enthusiastically at her, erasing the doubt that was rising in her expression. She smiled at him, giving him a few tips before he started.

At first he tried to imitate her movements he had seen her use. He struggled at first, but Marinette always stayed by his side and tried to lead him in the right direction, so he would stop squishing the dough like didn´t make fun of him at all, but she would giggle when he groaned at how difficult actually the task was. It looked so simple when she was doing it, but once he had to do it, the dough didn´t seem to do what he wanted.

He liked hearing her giggle. It was cute how she would try to hide behind her hand, as if to not insult him. Once she deemed his try-out to be over, she took the dough from his hands and put it back on the table. She took his hand in a moment of courage, guiding them to form the treat. Their faces and hands warmed instantly at the contact, but neither of them let go. She shot him a quick glance, only to find him already staring at her. Both quickly looked away blushing bright red, concentrating on the task before them. Once they finished, Adrien squeezed her hand that was still resting on his as a thank you. She smiled fondly, though a blush was ravishing her cheeks once again.

She continued on her side, while Adrien did his best on his own. He was a little ashamed of the results, but she encouraged him, telling him her firsts looked worse than his. He helped her transport the formed doughs to the oven. The silence came again between the two. She continued on other things, aware that Adrien was still watching her. She had no idea if he wanted to learn a few more things, but he didn´t seem to come from their cast, so maybe he didn't have a real interest in what she was doing. Why would he? But what he did next surprised her.

"Could you maybe…teach me how to do that?" he asked as she was forming cutting a cake and putting whipped cream between the parts, forming the cake again afterwards. Her eyes widened at the question. She gave him an unsure look.

"Would you like to know more? We could actually start by baking a cake… it´s a bit more… simple?" The end sounded like a question, she didn´t want to upset him by his skills. But he simply chuckled at her answer.

"Well, I think the professional is right here. Maybe I need something easy at first… but if you don´t have the time I completely understand, I mean I am holding you back in your work, just tell I´ll stop or help or do anything, I didn´t mean to force you to teach me, it just looks so great, em I mean wonderful when I watch you do it, I just kinda wanted to try but if you don´t want it´s okay, and I´m rambling now, am I? I´m so sorry, I´m going to close my mouth now…"

To his surprise she burst out laughing, and Adrien was sure it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. She didn´t know herself how she managed to stop laughing, but she quickly started laughing again as she saw his fake pout. She laughed, feeling completely at ease with him now. She never felt that way before with… well strangers, but he never had felt like a stranger... that´s one of the reasons she had been a little scared of him. She was scared because she wasn´t the least bit scared of him, and she didn´t understand this feeling at all.

"Nono. Don´t worry. We have all the time in the world. We are going to be snowed in for a few days, so I won´t be able to sell much anyways. We might as well teach you a few things." Her smile was infectious, he couldn´t hold himself from grinning.

"So, first. What do you already know about baking or cooking?" she looked at him expectantly. Adrien froze and his eyes widened. He did not expect that question.

"Umm…well, not much. Like I know… nothing?" He fiddled with his fingers, waiting nervously for her to answer. Marinette remained quiet, not knowing how or even what to answer. Why did he want to learn, even if he obviously came from a much higher cast.

"Alright!" She hoped she didn´t sound too surprised. "We can start with something simple." She smiled at him gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> So did you like this brand new chapter? I sure hope so! I haven´t written much farther, so you will have to wait again a bit for the next chapter :( I´m awful to do that to you, I know (:_;).
> 
> Thanks for your lovely comments and kudos :)
> 
> Until then, eat chocolate !


	8. Chapter 8

The day went by slowly. Marinette showed Adrien multiple techniques to make and form the dough for the baguettes, correcting his errors every once in a while. She didn´t correct each one of his mistake, finding it cute, how his face would scrunch up when he would notice that something was not as it should be when she showed him and he asked for some help. He was focused on making his best and was hopeful she would be proud of were only interrupted by some customers, who had been courageous enough to brave the freezing cold and snow-storm ragging outside of these cosy and warmth-filled walls. Nino had once showed up in the cuisine to tell them he was heading outside to check on the horses. He had come back since, to steal a croissant from a fresh batch. But Marinette and Adrien were like in their own little bubble: closed off from the rest of the world, from the rest of the other people - well person- in the house.

The more time they spent baking the more Marinette lost her shyness and she managed to talk to Adrien more easily. Adrien beamed as her new found confidence. They only stopped once they realised it was dark outside and that the only lights they had on in the kitchen weren´t nearly enough to see anything. Since they had been tasting everything, they weren´t really hungry, but Mari insisted in cooking another small soup like the nearly every day.

"No, really I want to help you." Adrien insisted, after she kindly declined his offer to help her.

"But you already helped me so much tod…" Adrien interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

"I like helping you." His sincere smile and strong gaze made her blush and she quickly nodded and turned her head over to the vegetables she was about to cut. She gave Adrien some easy orders, and both finished making the soup rapidly.

At dinner, Nino couldn´t help but see the quick glances his friend/boss threw towards the young woman, his smirk kept growing, as he was sure Adrien hadn´t still realised what was happening to him.

Nino excused himself after dinner, his thoughts monopolised by Adrien´s new crush. He was happy, his friend had found a new firend, someone he probably even more than liked... But he couldn´t help but worry, since his father would never accept such a relationship. His friend had the worst luck. Nino still had to do his job to protect him and keep his father, the king, updated from his whereabouts… which he hadn´t done in a long time since they had been caught in a snowstorm. Still. Tomorrow he must go sent something to the king or else the whole royal guard would show up in front of the bakery. Nino was sure Adrien wouldn´t want Mari to be caught in the cross-fire. He pretended to be already asleep as he heard Adrien enter their room.

On the other side of the room, Adrien couldn´t stop smiling from the amazing day he had. He learned so many new things. Things he could only dream of learning and eating. His father wanted –well ordered- him to focus on economics, politics, history, as well as geography. But he never liked those things at all… but he had no choice and say in what he truly wanted to do. He fell into a deep sleep, azure eyes clouding his mind and a certain laugh filling his head with happy thoughts.

* * *

The next morning Adrien woke up early again in order to help her again. He had been making a huge progress since the last day, and Mari let him take care of some things on his own, trusting him completly. His heart swelled at this. Never had anyone trusted him like this. Her living depended on it.

Nino had come by to say, he was going out again. But he didn´t even register his friend going in and out, completely focused in his work.

* * *

Nino POV

Nino was battling against the howling wind outside, each step more difficult than the other one before. His curses were blown away by the wind. The snow was like tiny ice pickles, prickling and peeling his skin roughly. He had gone to the stables to check on the horses again. He was now heading to the post office, praying it would be open. The bell chimed as he and the wind threw the door open. He quickly entered and closed the door behind him. The post-man welcomed him warmly. He was an old Chinese man wearing a Hawaiian T-Shirt. Nino marvelled at how the small man wasn´t cold, but quickly cleared his head, focusing ion what was really important he did.

"Good Morning Young Man! How can I help you?" Nino approached the counter, peeling off his scarf, in order for the man to understand him better.

"Good Morning. I would like to send a message to the King."

"The King? I have been here 90 years and nobody asked me this yet!"

"Well…" Nino scratched his head, not sure how he should respond. "Is it possible?"

The old man looked unsure, before he finally shot him a apologetic look.

"I´m sorry, young man. But all the lines are down. The snow cuts us off everything." Nino´s heart rate picked up.

_This is not good! Not good at all!_

He nodded at the old man and bid his good-byes. He hadn´t made one step out of the door, that somebody crashed into him.

"Hey! Watch where you´re going!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> New chapter! I hope you you enjoyed it! The next chapter will take some time as well, I´m really sorry, but I have to focus on some other things and writing is not on my priority at the moment :(  
> I still hope you enjoyed it and that I will read a few positive comments :)
> 
> Eat chocolate !


	9. Chapter 9

Previously:

~ He nodded at the old man and bid his good-byes. He hadn´t made one step out of the door, that somebody crashed into him. ~

* * *

Nino´s POV:

"Hey! Watch where you´re going!"

He looked down at the figure who was now sitting on the snow-covered ground. Furious hazel eyes met his gaze and he could have bet his heart stopped right away at the beautiful furious expression in front of him.

He quickly shook his head, trying to stop staring at the young brown-haired woman in front of him. His hand shot towards her, nearly slapping her in the process, making her growl. Her delicate hand took his and he helped her up, nearly slipping on the ice at the same time, but managed to steady himself on a nearby railing.

"I-I- I´m terribly sorry Miss. I d-didn´t see you." He stuttered.

"It´s okay, you surprised me more than anything." She looked at him curiously. "I never saw you here, did I?"

She cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at him as she took in his unkknown features. Her brain was buzzing, thinking of every person she had encountered here. It was a small village, everybody knew everyone and there weren´t many visitors.

"I am travelling with a friend and we got caught in the snow…" He scratched his neck, fidgeting under her intense gaze.

"Okay, see you!" She waved briefly.

His eyes widened in surprise as she whipped around and walked down the empty street. Nino stood frozen for a few seconds and then darted after her.

"Hey! Wait!" She didn´t even look behind or acknowledge him as he started walking next to her and kept looking straight on front of her.

"Where are you going?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why would you like to know?"

"Ummmmmmm- I-I- um- hehe…" Nino found himself completely dumbfounded, completly taken aback by her witty responce. The auburn-haired girl burst out laughing at his facial expression.

"You may be weirder than my best-friend." Still giggling, she continued and turned at the next street corner. He quickly ran up next to her, slightly embarrassed.

"G-good thing I have to go the same way…" They continued walking down the stress of the small village.

The girl interrupted their silence.

"You are really starting to weird me out… why are you following me?"

"W-well it´s my way so… sorry?" His voice ended on a pitch.

Suddenly, the young woman started to sprint away from him. Nino stood still where she had left him, completely dumbfounded and surprised at the turn of their small conversation. His eyes were wide-open as he continued to watch her running away from him.

He stood still for a few minutes, his body swaying with the howling wind. He sighed, before starting to march towards the bakery once again.

A warm gush of air greeted him as he opened the bakery´s front door.

"Mari! I´m telling you. This man was following me." Strangely, this voice was familiar to him.

"Alya, I´m sure you have nothing to worry about." Nino careful walked towards the back of the bakery, making sure to make no noise. He leaned against the door, eaves-dropping. He tried to lean in further, when he suddenly lost his balance and fell against the door, opening it in the process and knocking a few things over in his way towards the floor.

The kitchen was dead-silent as he lay on the floor. Two heads pooped up in his field on vision. A blue-haired girl and one familiar auburn-haired girl. The second one suddenly gasped loudly, before dashing over to pick a frying pan and held it close to his head, threatening him to smack him if he dared to move. Nino was frozen in shock. While Marinette could only stand there confused as to what had happened the last minute.

"You! Why are you following me?" Alya demanded. Nino only gaped.

"I-I-I… I w-wasn´t following you." He said not very convincing. Marinette´s brows furrowed, before she burst out laughing. Alya looked at her dumbfounded, while still holding her frying pan threateningly. Marinette clutched her belly as her muscles ached, but she couldn´t stop laughing.

After having heard the loud noises downstairs, Adrien came downstairs, his head only showing through the back door of the kitchen. He slowly entered, confused as to why Mari was laughing and who the other young woman was. Alya´s head whipped up to meet his curious and confused gaze.

"And who are you?" Adrien halted abruptly, surprised by the harshness of the newcomer.

"I-I´m Adrien." After throwing a quick look at Nino, Alya made her way up to Adrien still holding the pan tightly in her hands.

"What are you doing here? Did you kidnap my friend?" Adrien´s widened before he took a small step back, nearly tripping over his own feet, but Alya stepped forward, slowly closing the distance between them.

"I-I.. NO! Nonono, this is a mis-misunderstanding." He explained waving his hands in front of him.

Mari had now calmed down, she was holding herself on a nearby table as she took deep breaths. She walked up to her friend and rested her hand on her shoulder.

"Alya, stop harassing my guests. Adrien and Nino."

Alya turned around and looked at her friend with wide eyes. Nino, who had inally stood up from his position on the floor, approached them as he scratched his arm.

"We got caught in the snow storm and… well… we kind of ended up here." Alya could only nod slowly. "I-I´m sorry if you thought that… I was following you." Nino finished awkwardly.

Marinette clapped her hands.

"So! Now that everything is clear. Nino, Adrien. This is my best-friend Alya."

Nino´s jaw instantly hit the floor, whereas Alya grew confused.

"And how do you know them? What are they doing here?"

"We got caught in the snow-storm and landed in Marinette´s stall, where she found us. She took us in." Adrien smiled at Marinette, making her blush bright red, as he explained their situation to Alya. Alya stayed silent before humming thoughtfully. Suddenly out of nowhere, she grabbed Mari´s arm and dragged her out of the kitchen to the second floor, so they could talk without the two boys hearing them.

"Are you out of your mind?" Alya started as she tapped her friend on the forehead. "You invited two strangers in and your parents aren´t even here to protect you." Mari groaned.

"Alya! They´re harmless, look at them! Nino only sleeps the whole day, and Adrien…"

Her heart warmed as she said his name out loud, which of course Alya noticed.

"Adrien helps me baking the whole day. They are only here for a few days, until they can start their trip across the kingdom again."

Marinette explained finally, a hint of sadness in her voice. Alya grinned internally as she caught on her friend´s growing feelings towards the cute blond. Although she was saddened by the fact that he would have to go soon and that she might never see him again. She let out an inaudible sight, letting Mari figure out her feelings by herself at first. Alya hoped her friend would realise her feelings soon and do something about it before the snow storm stopped, which would be soon. Mari had already made her way back downstairs to prepare dinner as the sun had already set behind the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> So I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, I´m as well nearing the end of writing for this story, but no worries there are still a few chapters ;) Maybe around ten... not sure, could also be less.   
> Since my shedule is going to go crazy, I have to say (once again) that the next chapter will take awhile :( Sorry!
> 
> Thank you for your kudos and nice comments, feel free to tell me if you liked the way I introduced Alya to the story (I thought this was a cute way (^^).
> 
> Eat chocolate !


	10. Chapter 10

A loud roar of anger resonated in the sumptuous castle. The large, crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings clattered loudly. The mansion´s employees ushered away from a specific room, clearly not wanting to face the enraged man or be near him even if they were in a different room, who wasn´t stopping his roars of anger iwhich were amplified by his large office. The office was even more sumptuous as the large halls, grand staircases or the large colourful gardens outside. Large deep purple drapes hung at the windows, each wall covered in golden intricate, angelic designs showing off the wealth of the master of this mansion.

The man, who everyone feared was screaming at two men, who were sitting uptight in chairs facing his dark mahogany desk. Suddenly the furious man slammed his hand down on his desk, making the two men flinch and jump in surprise.

"Your Majesty, we can understand your …" One of the man started.

"NO! I don´t think you really understand the situation Mr. Damocles." The enraged, platinum haired man said.

"You have no idea. My son is missing. WHERE IS HE?"

After a few seconds of silence , the other man spoke up, trying his best to keep his confidence in front of his boss and king.

"Sir, the last news we got from Mr. Lahiffe, your son´s guard, was two weeks ago. They were in a village, near the border Sir." The king tried his best to calm down, which wasn´t working really well.

"Mr. Lahiffe was writing they would be soon on their way back to the capital, Sir."

"Then explain ME WHY I STILL HAVEN´T GOTTEN ANY NEWS FROM MY SON?" The king spat, before readjusting his round glasses on his nose.

Mr. Damocles and Mr. Roth looked at one another, willing the other one to face the wrath of their king. Mr. Roth readjusted his way to small coat, nearly making every button pop.

"We-well, we have heard from other travellers that the winter is really hard next to the border and that the post can´t deliver anything with the snow-storms happening. There is no way to communicate with the small villages with the lack of other possibilities…" Mr. Damocles´s voice turned into a whisper in the end.

"Snowstorms… why hasn´t ANYONE of you bothered to tell my son could in danger near the borders?" The king said in a deadly calm voice, rising from his seat and pearing down at his two right hands menacingly.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, I think you son is intelligent enough to have seeken shelter somewhere during the storm." The king´s assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, came in dropping a few papers on his desk. The king glared at her, which made her quickly fled out of the office, regretting she had opened her mouth.

The king slowly walked over to the large window, looking at the view of the whole flourishing city, which he kept controlling with an iron grip. He finally turned around slowly.

"Find him and bring him back. Don´t disappoint me again." The men quickly got up and left the room, after being dismissed, nearly running out of the King´s office to reach their own as fast as possible , so they could plan their trip to the south border and not anger their King again.

King Agreste sat down in order to calm himself down, with was working better now with these two idiots not in his precious office. Adrien absolutely needed to get back here in time. The fact that he was probably caught in a snow-storm was even better to him. He was going to drag him back to the capital if need be. There was no way the prince would miss the next oncoming event of the decade. His son had no further excuse now, than to concentrate on being the next king of Miraculous and produce the next heir of the kingdom. His son couldn´t hide, he would search for him everywhere.

_Adrien, I can assure you: you won´t miss your own marriage._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> So it´s a small chapter, but a very important one ;) The update was way faster than I thought (well actually I didn´t want to study ^^")  
> I really hoped you liked it, feel free to tell how you think this is going to develop. I´m open for ideas :D  
> Thank you for all your kudos :)
> 
> No idea when the next update will be, until then...  
> Eat chocolate!


	11. Chapter 11

On the other side of the kingdom, a young women and a young man kept getting closer and closer to one another. Baking and joking around wove their once lonely souls together, and made them smile more and more each day, after getting to know the other a little better with the time passing by.

Adrien had become a master of croissants, much to Marinette´s surprise. She now let him take care of it by himself, he had been doing them on his own for more than a week now. She would still use his help for other recepies. Adrien didn´t mind in the slightest.

Marinette let out a loud yawn as she entered the cold bakery at three in the morning. She had slipped on a air of thick wool socks, but they didn´t do much against her freezing feet. She went down the stairs slowly, not pushing herself too much after her nearly sleepless night. Step by step she finally reached the ground floor and turned right to get to the surely more warm room of the entire house. Her sleepy brain and still half-closed eyes didn´t register anything abnormal as she first entered the kitchen and atelier.

_Wait… why are the lights already on?_

She whipped around as she heard theold wooden floor creek between someone elses´ feet, meaning someone was approaching. She was greeted with the sight of Adrien, still looking somewhat sleepy himself and unkempt hair, blond strands sticking in every direction.

"Good morning!" He greeted with an adoring smile.

Marinette felt herself flush as her brain was still completely not functional at the hour of the day. Adrien stared softly at her rosy cheeks, feeling his warm as well. Without controlling himself he lifted his hand and softly graced her cheek, tracing her flushed cheek with his thumb, making her flush even more. He handed her the cup pf coffee he had prepared for her he still held in his other hand. She took it gratefully, hoping to hide her blush behind it. Adrien kept smiling down at her, while both sipped at their warm coffee (something Adrien had also asked about, curious at how was this beverage being made).

After a few quiet minutes, Marinette took the cup to the sink and made her way to put some wood in the oven, so it would heat up again. Adrien has already taken out the main ingredients they would need for them to bake the baguettes. They baked more things now, since the people didn´t want to stay home anymore, so they braced the cold, the storm had stopped and slowly the masses of snow were slowly melting. But the two young adultes decided they could still take their time with all the baking.

They were completely in sync. Marinette only had to hold her hand out, for him to pass what she needed that she couldn´t reach. As she held her hand out for him to pass her the baking powder. She felt his hand take hers and she whipped her hand to watch him bring her hand to his mouth, leaving a small kiss on her flour-covered hand. She inhaled sharply, her hand tingling where his lips kissed her a fraction of seconds before. Her lips quickly quirked up into a small smile and a blush crept on her cheeks once again.

_He is way too good at making me blush._

He was still holding onto her hand, brushing his thumb above her knuckles. She freed her hand, pushing with her index finger on his nose playfully, leaving a white, powdery print on the tip of his nose. He squint-eyed his nose, making her giggle at his ridiculous and surprised face. He watched her mocking him slightly with an own quirk of his lips.

"So now you´re making fun of me?" He said as she couldn´t stop her laughing.

"No! I´m not making fun of you, you just looked so cute!" She leaned against the kitchen´s platform. His eyes brightened as a huge smile broke out of his face.

"So I´m ´ _so cute´_? Well I have to say nobody had made me such a compliment before." A smirk broke out of his face. Marinette´s laugh halted immediately.

_Did I really said that?_

She blushed heavily as she waved her hands in front of herself.

"No! Nonono! I never said that!" Adrien´s smirk grew.

"Oh! Sorry, I must have misheard you, even if it seemed pretty clear to me." He quipped back smugly.

He leaned in, his nose nearly touching hers. Her blush could only intensify under his strong gaze. She could only see his emerald eyes shining with mischief and …  _pure happiness._  Her heart wanted to burst out of her ribcage as she stared into his loving eyes. On his side, Adrien was forgetting everything around him and could only focus on the bright blue eyes facing him. He started leaning in slowly, careful of her reaction. Her eyes drifted down towards his lips, but she didn´t back away. Both leaned in further, until their lips brushed.

Out of nowhere, the front door opened, making a huge noise by crashing into the wall. Adrien and Marinette jumped apart, before rushing to the front shop, where Nino was trying to close the door with difficulty with the wind rushing inside. Adrien rushed to help him. After having successfully closed the door, Nino took off his snow-drenched scarfs and coats. Marinette had gone back into the kitchen to hide, now having to face the fact that she just had kissed him. She just kissed Adrien. Adrien kissed her. Her heart squeezed and she felt like she hadn´t any space to breathe correctly. She leaned against the counter, grateful to hear Nino distracting Adrien. She had no idea what she was going to say to him…

_Oh my! What I am going to say?_

She started to panic internally, her fingertips digging into the wooden counter. She was so focused, she didn´t even hear the two young men go upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> There you go with a really cute Adrienette moment. I hoped you all liked it :) And yes! First kiss! :D  
> I´m sorry I only updated now, I know the last update was a few month ago, but well I had no ideas on how to make their relationship evolve :)  
> So don´t expect to have an update next week or anything, but I will try my best to update every month :)
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	12. Chapter 12

Adrien was worried, Nino´s expression didn´t ease his worries at all. He was hiding something from him, he knew it. He had learned to read Nino´s face like any book. The look Adrien gave him, told Nino everything. Adrien needed to know, he demanded to know what was going on.

_Tell me._

Nino sighed as he bowed his head.

"It´s nothing Adrien, go back to baking." Adrien approached Nino and squeezed his right shoulder.

"Let´s go upstairs." Adrien turned around and waved his hand, motioning to Nino to follow him. They entered their room – well Mari´s bedroom- and Adrien closed the door shut behind them.

"Come on Nino. I know you´re not telling me something." Adrien asked now directly, wanting, needing an answer.

Ninos´ hands fidgeted, twirling his fingers around, hoping to distract himself from the bad news he had to spill. Nino knew how much this news would affect Adrien´s mood and possibly even his near future. Nino looked out of the small window in the room. The sun was barely peaking through the icy sky.

"Adrien, how long have we been here?" Adrien seemed taken aback by this question, his eyes blinking, trying to figure out why he was asking him this. When he thought about the days he had spent in this small home, all he could think of was Mari… their kiss and how contented and fortunate he felt being able to be here.

"I guess around two weeks." Nino´s strong gaze didn´t waver.

"And why have we been here for two weeks?"

 _Why is he asking me this? Am I missing something?_  Adrien frowned.

 

"Obviously the snow storm Nino. I thought you had seen it as well." Adrien joked, trying to ease the tension building in the air around them, but Nino kept his serious expression, making Adrien worry even more.

"Adrien, the snowstorm blocked every way of communicating with the capital, so I couldn´t inform your father of your whereabouts for the last two weeks." Adrien´s ears started to ring; his breath got caught in his throat and his vision unfocused. He felt Nino guide him to a nearby chair.

_This is bad… NO! This is the worst!_

 

Adrien bowed his head, breathing in deeply in order not to succumb to the growing panic inside his head. His eyes started to water, hiding them with his palms.

"For once I thought I had escaped my bad luck, but now it´s coming back full-force." He started laughing hysterically, trying to hold himself back to cry his heart out. He felt Nino hold on tightly on his shoulders,

He would lose her now. He would never be able to see her again; his father would never allow it. It was a matter of weeks until they would come for him. He had only realised a few days ago, how his feelings towards Marinette had grown. He just had gotten her into his life and now he would be forced to leave. Just the thought of it made his heart hurt, the pain was already unbearable.

Nino could only hurt as well at the sight of his friend´s inner turmoil and growing despair.

"I just kissed her." Adrien finally murmured, barely loud enough for Nino to hear. But he did.

"You´re serious?"

"Of course! Why would I joke about that?" Adrien thoughts drifted towards Marinette.

_Does she like me as well? Was the kiss one-sided?_

_Will I the only one be affected by departure? Should I tell her?_

_Can I tell her?_

 

A chocked sigh escaped him. Adrien decided he wouldn´t let this ruin the last perfect weeks he was going to spent here. The last weeks he was going to spend with her. She had admitted to him, that she liked having other people to spend time with a few days ago. He couldn´t crush her joy.

"Nino, when the snowstorm stops, don´t send anything to my father. He would know exactly where we are. I´m not going to make this easier for him."

Adrien stood up and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

As Nino heard the staircases creak, he let out a deep sigh. His friend didn´t deserve this. He didn´t deserve any of this. On the other hand, he knew that once Adrien would be on the throne that a new era would come and that King Gabriel would stop reigning with his iron grip on the kingdom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eat chocolate!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for following my story!
> 
> I might change the rating to T, because of the strong emotional turmoil they will encounter. (Don´t worry, nothing suggestive or anything, nothing M rated, I just want to be on the safe side :) )
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter!
> 
> Eat chocolate!

Marinette continued to distract herself with cleaning the bakery up, when she heard the door open, to reveal Alya engulfed in a large coat and her scarf wound tighly around her neck.

"Hey Mari! How are you doing?" Mari simply shrugged, not really knowing how she was truly feeling mixed emotions twirling in her stomach. Alya sensed that something was going on. She forced Marinette to drop her rag and sponge and ushered to her parent´s bedroom.

"Come on tell me? Should I murder your two men?" Marinette giggled at her friend´s question. Alya was truly the friend you would ask for help to hide a body.

"It´s probably nothing Alya."

"No, Mar. It´s not nothing if it makes you feel like that." Alya was right… once again. Marinette sighed and rubbed her face with the palm of her hands.

"He seemed to be ignoring me for the last couple of days and I don´t know what I did wrong…" Marinette sighed, fumbling with the pillow on her lap. "It´s just… we were really getting along well and I would like to know what I said wrong or…"

Suddenly Marinette stopped speaking, staring past Alya, who was sitting next to her. Groaning, Marinette smacked the pillow to her face, muffling her groan. Alya frowned, not knowing what realisation her friend just had. Marinette kept shaking her head rapidly, confusing Alya much more.

Marinette dropped the pillow, after Alya started to tug in away from her. Marinette looked at her friend with a desperate expression, her eyes watery.

"Mar, come on. What´s going in in your pretty little head?"

"I-I-I…" Marinette´s jaw started to quiver and Alya grabbed her shoulders, staring into her friends´ eyes.

"Mari! Everything is all right, I´m here. Tell me what´s going on?"

"Alya, I-I think… I think I like him…" She whispered, while her head and shoulders dropped. She didn´t expect her friend to let out a sigh of relief, before squealing like she just had seen the Prince. Now Marinette was the confused one.

"Alya? Am I missing something? It´s not really bad! He comes from far away and will right after the storm ends. I can´t let my feelings grow." Alya stopped right away, looking at her friend intently.

"You could leave with him, but you will have to tell him. He won´t let you come for no reason."

"Alya, I can´t tell him, he doesn´t feel the same." Said Marinette, completely convinced by her statement.

"Giiirl! I´m sure he feels the same, you can see just by the way he only looks at you and always helps you in the bakery."

"He is a polite man, of course he would take any chance to help me or any lady for that matter…

"You two are way too adorable and oblivious! That´s where you´re wrong, Mari! Since he is a noble man, he doesn´t have to help you out at all! He chooses to do it, because he likes you and likes helping you, and working by your side!" Marinette sighed, shaking her head once again.

"Well, there´s that too: he is from a high social class, I´m only a simple baker. Nothing can and will happen between us." Alya´s shoulders dropped. Her friend was right, but she didn´t want to admit this fact.

"You could always try, If it doesn´t work, he leaves and you never hear and see him again." Marinette closed her eyes and started whining.

"But I don´t want him to leave! Well we also kissed, but that probably meant nothing to him…""

"No Mari! It´s telling you everything you need to know! Do you remember the story Mrs. Fu would always tell us?"

"Of course I remember her story, it´s a shame she died so young…"

"Yeah… poor Mr. Fu… I think you need to be reminded of the moral of the story, Mari!" Marinette simply nodded.

"You need to act fast or the opportunity will go away before you have a chance to do anything!"

* * *

Adrien was tossing and turning in his bed. His father´s troops could be coming to get him any time now. But he also couldn´t get their kiss out of his head. He couldn´t just ignore his ever growing feelings towards the young woman. He had to kiss her right on that moment, her pink lips were slightly open and her beautiful eyes were looking right at his soul. He had no other choice than to give in and kiss her, like his heart longed for. Of course, he would have loved for their kiss to be longer.

Adrien tried to make himself regret ever kissing her, but he couldn´t. He didn´t regret it. He just wanted to do it again. But could he? There is such a huge gap between their worlds. This might not even be the biggest problem they would have to face.

His father.

The King of Miraculous.

Adrien started this trip across the kingdom not for an educational purpose, because he was going to be king one day. Of course, he told his father that he needed to see the land he is going to rule someday. In reality Adrien had had another reason to flee away from the capital. This reason was another young woman. A young woman he was betrothed with, but didn´t want to marry. But the people and mostly his father expected him to be a good leader and a good husband, so had to get married at one point.

Prince Adrien ran his hands in his hair, trying to ease his growing headache.

_Why couldn´t I have been born in another family?_

He cursed all the bad luck filling his life. The only positive, good things that happened to him were meeting Nino, making this trip as well as meeting and getting to know the one, who now held his heart in her small hands.

Exhaustion overtook him and his eyes slowly drifted shut as his mind couldn´t stop comparing the beautiful Marinette to the person he will have to marry. His thoughts drifted to her perfect bluebell eyes and he slowly calmed down. He wasn´t thinking of his bad luck anymore, but for once he was glad it had led him to her. The probability of meeting her had been so thin. First the chance of his father agreeing to this trip had been horrible, then they had spontaneously decided to approach the border more and go to the last village before the border. They then had been hit by a snow storm and landed in this particular stable and not in any other part of the village.

And then he met her.

At first she had been scared of them, but now she had opened up –at least to him- and his heart wanted to burst out of his ribcage each time she would laugh, smile or even simply breathe. He fell for her so hard, and it had been so natural that he hadn´t reailized it at all. His heart-beat slowed down, his memories with Marinette calming him down. He welcomed sleep with open arms.

Outside, the storm was slowly calming down, the wind dropping more with each hour, only letting snow fall down on the ground silently at the end of the night.


	14. Chapter 14

Marinette knocked a few times on the door, but didn´t get any answers. Slowly she opened the door to reveal a dimly lit room, due to the closed curtains in her room. She slowly walked up to her bed carefully, where she saw Adrien resting peacefully, buried under her blankets. She blushed at the image and sat down on the bed, not believing herself to be this courageous. She couldn´t stop herself from coming closer to him, it was like a magnet was attracting her with a strong invisible force. Nobody would approach a "stranger" sleeping like she was about to do. Her hand gently pushed away a few blond strands of hair away from his angelic face, making him scrunch up his nose. She lightly traced his magnificent features with the tip of her index, smoothing down his eyebrows, trying to ease his slight frown. Her thumb brushed against his cheek, while her other hand started to gently sake his shoulder. She couldn´t help herself, but admire his beautiful features.

"Adrien? Adrien, wake up." Her voice said smoothly. His frown vanished from his face at her voice, but he didn't want to wake up. Her hand rubbed his arm, sparks flying as their skins touched.

Adrien´s green orbs opened slowly, before shutting down once again, he turned his back to Marinette, while he let out a loud groan.

"Nino! Leave me be!" He sleepily muttered.

Taken aback, Marinette stood up, not really wanting to out herself. She kept standing in the middle of the room, staring at the unmoving form under the blanket. Adrien, who was used to Nino to be much more persistent when he had to wake him up, was puzzled as to why he wasn't being shaken awake. His eyes flew open, before he quickly whipped around in bed, tangling himself in the sheets and successfully face-planting in the floor, thankfully the floor was warm thanks to the ovens of the bakery downstairs.

The silence in the room was broken by Marinette´s giggles. Adrien tried to stand up but his feet kept getting more tangled up on the sheets and fell down a couple of times before he decided to change strategies and howled himself in the bed with his arms in order to sit down before drawing the sheets away from his feet, freeing them.

For the first time since their kiss, they really looked at each other.

Adrien knew their time was already counted, but he didn´t want to leave her, nor wanted he to never see her face again. Never see her round and fair skin, never seeing the flour smudged on her skin and hair, never see her pretty hands working on decorating cookies and cakes. He would never get to see her blue eyes and her face light up with every smile he could get from her. A crease appeared between his eyebrows, which Marinette reflected immediately.

"Everything alright? I´m sorry I woke you up…I can leave …" She looked away embarassed and made a move to turn around.

"NO! Nonono! I had to wake up someday…I mean thank you for waking me up." He anxiously scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, dinner is ready. Nino volunteered to bring Alya back home." She said while fiddling with her apron.

Adrien nodded as his eyes followed her small frame as she left the bedroom.

What should he do? Tell her who he really is and start something out of their strange bond? Or continue to lie to her and crush their hopes of something more than a friendship? He was torn between his duties towards his land and mostly towards is father, and what he truly wanted. His mother had always love was something worse fighting for and how bad did he wanted to fight for her! He was ready to do anything for her and obey each one of her commands. But the fear of the consequences overshadowing their love and their lives was halting him, stopping his attempts at his own life. A wonderful life.

Adrien took a decision as he staring at the pink wall facing him, daring him to tell Marinette everything.

Fate. Fate was going to choose what would happen to them. And if fate wasn´t going to bring him what he most wants, he would get it himself.

After a few minutes, mulling over his decision, Adrien finally decided to join Mari downstairs. Arriving in the kitchen, he saw that she had disposed everything on the table perfectly and that a steaming soup was cooling off in their plates already. She was about to cut them a piece of bread, but Adrien gently laid his hand on hers, stopping her.

"Let me." His gently smile was met with a light blush on her cheeks. They ate mostly in silence, sneaking a peak at one another every few minutes.

Adrien could clearly see that Marinette didn´t know what to talk to him about. Like him, she was stuck on the occurrence from a few hours prior. After he caught her peeking at him, she kept starring at her plate in front of her, occupying herself with stirring the soup with her spoon. She slowly brought the spoon to her mouth, silently ingesting the delicious meal she had made. Adrien couldn't stop starring at her as he kept munching on his piece of bread. He breathed in deeply through his nose.

Before he could utter anything, Marinette stood up, taking her plate and cutlery, bringing it to the sink. She couldn´t feel Adrien´s eyes on her, and felt colder than before. She was starting to give up the idea that there had been a spark between them and that he had felt it as well.

Adrien sighed as he kept quiet. Nino was still out. Marinette was tidying the table. And he kept sitting on the wooden chair, mulling over his life.

Suddenly Adrien shot out of his chair and marched towards Mari, who was standing by the sink, her hands washing every utensil, she had used for the baking today. It seemed like she had forgotten or pushed the task back. Her pigtails hung low like her shoulders and head. Adrien heart squeezed painfully as he didn´t see her usual lively person, and knew he had caused it. He halted abruptly a step behind her. She hadn´t even registered that Adrien was now standing behind her, she was so lost in thoughts as her hands washed the same plate for longer than necessary.

"Mari?" Someone whispered behind her. The plate fell out of her hands and crashed into the sink, shattering in three pieces. She whipped around and her eyes found Adrien´s emeralds instantly. Her breathe caught in her throat and blushed heavily as she realized how close he actually was.

Adrien took another small step forward, their chest now brushing as they breathed in.

His hands slowly rose and cradled her face, his eyes drifted over her face taking in every single detail and freckle in.

He couldn´t stop himself from closing his eyes and diving in, taking her plump lips with his. A surprised gasp escaped her, but soon leaned in as well.

Just like before their first kiss, Adrien wouldn´t be able to tell how much time passed as he was next to Marinette. Their kisses could last seconds, minutes or decades, he wouldn´t be able to tell. It was like he was floating in a time capsule and enjoying his time by her side. He was stunned that his heart was still pumping in his chest and hadn´t exploded from his strong feelings for the young woman. Sooner or later they had to part for air.

Both were breathing rapidly, staring into each other´s eyes.

"I-I…" Marinette stuttered, still not really understanding what had happened during the last five minutes. Adrien´s hands rose to cradle her cheeks, his thumbs gently brushing her blush along her cheekbones.

"I like you Marinette." Adrien said gently, whereas Marinette looked at him like he had grown two heads.

"I-I d-don´t understand." She answered eyes wide, to which Adrien chuckled.

"Is it so hard to understand that I have gotten to like you, Marinette?"

"I-uhmm… y-yes?" She said unsure of herself.

"You´re one of a kind Marinette. You´re kind, gently, selfless, passionate and have a golden heart. You have to take my word for it, I have seen many heartless souls from where I come from, and you are like fresh air. You don´t know you need it until you have it…" Adrien rambled and blushed furiously as he suddenly registered that he just had compared her to air. He was taken out of his stupor as Marinette started to giggle, he had been caught up in his own head, yelling at himself for his misstep that could potentially ruin his relationship with her, and so take away her beautiful smile and what would he do without seeing her smile again for the rest of hopefully long life?

Marinette blushed and ducked her head.

"Well… you´re kind as well Adrien." His lips quirked up at her compliment, his index finger tilted her face up to his. His eyes caught her licking her lips and before he could ask if he was allowed to kiss her once again, her lips were on his.

Suddenly the front door burst open and the cold wind rushed inside, making Marinette squeak and jumped closer to Adrien, hoping to steal his warmth. Adrien quickly kissed her hair, before rushing towards Nino, who was trying to close the door against the force of the howling wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Thank you all for reading :)  
> I still hope you liked this chapter :) (I mean what could I do wrong with some Adrienette ?)
> 
> I wish you all a sunny week-end!  
> Eat chocolate!


	15. Chapter 15

Nino gladly left them some space, since them being all lovey-dovey wasn´t really his favourite thing to watch. But once he was finally alone with Adrien in their room, he would urge him to tell her.

Nino knew that Adrien was stressed because of his current situation, but he knew that his best-friend needed some urge to act and do something, when he was like this. Adrien would always avoid those kinds of situation, letting them resolve by themselves and keep being blind to the fact that things were not going to end well. Adrein always acted this way with his personal life. Nino knew that things were not going to end well and he was desperatly trying to make his friend understand, but Adrien was stubborn and kept ordering him to stop talking, leaving the room, and ignoring Nino for a few hours. They kept acting like everything was normal around Marinette, but once they were alone, the tension was peaking.

"You are going to hurt, Adrien. You are not only going to hurt her, but you are also going to hurt yourself. It´s not going to get any better to more you wait, Adrien! You need to tell her. You have to tell her!" Nino sat down on the chaise, he had been using as a bed for more than a few weeks now. Adrien was staring at the floor, his eyes blood-shot as he was actively trying to hold back his tears of utter despair and panic.

"Do you think that I think she deserves this? Do you think I feel good of lying to her?" He stared intently at Nino, his fists clenching.

"For once Nino: I am happy! I´m never thought someone like me could be this happy! But here I am! Happy as I could ever be! …It´s like a drug… I became addicted to being happy…" Adrien yelled as he let his tears fall down along his angled cheeks, not bothering to wipe them away or make them stop.

"I am addicted to being around her, addicted to see her smile, to hear her laugh! I am addicted to the happiness Marinette makes me feel. And mostly: I´m addicted to her! And I think these two things are the same thing." Adrien proclaimed with a desperate tone on his voice that his friend clearly picked up.

"Nino… I-I c-can´t… I-I can´t let her g-go… I can´t make me hate her. For once in my life I feel the need to be selfish, I never was such a person, you know me Nino. But I can´t help it. I can´t be the one to ruin our last weeks or days together! I can´t be the one to ruin this perfect thing and feeling that I have chased all my life Nino! I just can´t. I can´t loose her." His voice broke and Adrien fell on his bed and buried his face under his pillow.

Nino sighed, running his hands on his face. His friend was hurting, he knew that, but he couldn´t help being anry at him for making it worse. Nino balmed himself for not being to do anything at the moment. He could only watch his friend from afar, who had his back turned to him, hoping that maybe the misery controlling his friend´s life would someday stop.

* * *

Nino had found her father´s old guitar in the back of her bedroom and was now trying to tune it. Time flew by, just like every day they stayed cooed up in the bakery, while they let the snow melt outside.

She hadn´t even realized that Nino had started playing to guitar, lost in her thoughts, before Adrien gently pried her away from what she was doing and laid her flour-covered hands on his shoulders and his hands on her waist, hooking his thumbs in the string of her apron, holding her in close to him. He began to sway with her to Nino´s music. Marinette had never danced and tried to follow Adrien´s steps. Even though she was quite clumsy she managed to not make a foul out of herself and didn´t march on his feet. Adrien chuckled, not oblivious to her worries, he had sensed her tense at first, but was glad that she was able to relax the more they danced.

"See, you got this Ladybug! No need to panic, when I´m right be your side to teach you. You are a wonderful dancer." He teased her as he picked up the pace of their dance.

"Why do you keep calling me that? And I am not nervous!" She defended herself, her eyebrows furrowed as she glared up at him.

"Of course you weren´t… Nobody would be nervous to dance with someone as handsome as I am." He quipped back with a shit-eating grin.

"I never said you were handsome!" Marinette argued immediatly, forcing herself not to blush.

"Well you thought it, didn´t you?" He said and Marinette blushed, confirming what he just said. He couldn´t stop the grin on his face.

"But you did tell me that you found me cute." He grinned and his eyes were filled with love as he saw her blush once again.

"Don´t worry, Princess. I find you pretty cute as well." He kissed her forehead and buried his face in her hair. Already missing her scent and her comforting aura, knowing their days were counted. Marinette leaned more against him, her ear resting right above his heart, listening to his soothing heartbeats.

They kept dancing around the kitchen, until Marinette felt Adrien´s stomach grumble, shortly followed by her own belly. They laughed, beofre starting up on dinner.

That night before bed, Nino decided he would not be arguing with his friend tonight, after seeing the smile that hadn´t left his face after their session of dancing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
> Eat chocolate!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating changed to T due to strong emotions ! I just want to be sure :)  
> Enjoy !

Nino had left, probably telling them where he was heading out, but it´s not like they could remember, nothing could get Adrien and Marinette out of their precious bubble.

Adrien had spent the last few days helping out more and more at the shop. He often would serve the customers, who were all surprised to see the new face in the bakery. They weren´t many new faces in the village as well, he was a rarity, which attracted more and more people each day to the bakery. Marinette would always laugh, when he would mimic the villagers´ faces with their eyes wide open and head tilted to the side, just like owls staring at him, when they saw him for the first time.

The customers kept asking him a thousand times a day were he came from and mostly how he landed here. He tried to keep his story short and hoped that nobody would recognize him and rat him out. But it seemed as if this village didn´t have an idea on how he looked like. He once blushed heavily as a little boy asked him why he kept staying here, now that the snow had melted and the routes were practicable, to which Adrien scratched the back of his head and took the order of another customer. The young boy scrunched up his nose as he was trying to find out the answer himself, before finally exiting the bakery, much to Adrien´s delight. Once every customer was out of the shop, Adrien headed back to the kitchen to help his heart´s chosen one.

He walked up to her, before waving his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder, observing her small hands forming loafs of bread. He still couldn´t do even if Marinette had tried to teach him. He could much more things than before in the kitchen (well in his defence, he had never entered a kitchen before), but his hands still didn´t seem able to do a few things no matter how hard he tried, much to Marinette´s delight. She had the proof that he wasn´t as perfect as she first thought and she found it endearing how riled-up he could become in front of a formless piece of dough. A smile spread to her lips each time she would think about it.

Suddenly the door crashed open, rays of sunshine making their way inside the bakery. Nino stormed in, panting heavily as if he had just run a whole marathon with a furious bull chasing behind him. He stumbled forward and caught himself on a nearby shelf. Marinette looked at Adrien, bewilderment and curiosity written on her face.

Nino kept on panting heavily, while he tried to explain something, but he was so out of breath that nothing came out. His hands waved in the air, as if to mimic what he wanted to tell them... wanted to warn them about.

Adrien made his way around the counter and crunched down where Ninos' legs had given out on him.

Nino's face was red from exhaustion. But what struck Adrien, like a slap, were Ninos' eyes that were already telling him too much. Adrien shook his head, already trying to persuade himself that he was just seeing things and that Nino was wrong.

Nino kept starring at his friend. His job description prohibited him from being friends with Adrien, but how could have he not become friends with him?

"They're here, Adrien." Nino said so lowly that only Adrien heard him. The latter shot up straight and staggered backwards as if the words had burned him. Adrien started shaking, he brought his hadns to his hair, clutching it tightly, trying to stop their shaking, but it was useless.

"What is it? What is going on?" Marinette screamed as she saw the two young men face pale more and more by the second, Adrien´s expression was morphing into a panicked one that she never had seen before. It made her hair rise on her arms. Adrien had a distant look, as if he wasn´t in this room anymore.

She marched up to Nino, who decided to keep staring at the floor, not daring to meet her eyes. Seeing she wouldn't get anything out of him, Marinette looked for Adrien, who had hidden himself behind the shop. She saw he had sat down on a chair as far away as possible, she watched him visibly shake as he had his face buried in his hands. She slowly approached him only to hear him sniffling every now and then. She crouched down in front of him. One of her hands rested on his knee, whereas the other tried to pry his hands away from his face.

After a minute fighting with his strong hands, Adrien freed his face only to turn it away from her as the tears kept rolling down his face.

He felt like he had no right to lay his eyes on her anymore. All his lies were going to blow up now, all at once. He thought he still had time. He had made a promise to himself that he would tell her by the end of the week and that was in only a few days away. But now he didn't have time...

He thought the royal guard would a little more time before arriving. Surely his father had put them under so much pressure that they didn't sleep for days and instead searched for him everywhere.

His train of thoughts and blame were halted by too soft hands cradling his cheeks and forcing him to turn his head. Adrien let her move his head, but closed his eyes. His heart pained enough and he knew he couldn´t handle the look on the face. Call him selfish, but he didn´t want to feel any more guilty by seeing the innocent look in her eyes. He felt her face approach his, feeling her breath on his cheek.

"Adrien... look at me... please." Her soft voice implored.

His eyes opened to see her bluebell eyes filed with unshed tears. It crushed his heart to see her like that. Instinctively he howled her up so she could sit on his lap.

He hid his own teary eyes in her neck, as he couldn't help but let them fall.

As Marinette felt his tears hit her neck and him shake anew beneath her, couldn't she help herself but let her tears fall as well. Her arms wound around him, holding him tight against her.

Soft murmurs left Adrien's mouth.

"I love you, I love you, I love you...I love you so much, Marinette. Please never forget that."

Marinette kept on scratching his head, trying to soothe him.

Suddenly he shot up and ushered her to sit on the chair, while he kneeled down in front of her cradling her hands tightly with his.

"Marinette, will you marry me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I hope you liked this new chapter! Spring is coming and so their relationship, problems are blooming and the lies are going to blow up!
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.  
> No, I´m kidding. Don´t worry there will be more chapters ;)  
> Well, I hope I didn´t crush your hearts too much right before Christmas. I didn´t know if I should post it before or after Christmas.  
> I hope you won´t kill me for this chapter. I´m sorry she didn´t accept his proposal like you all wanted and hoped for :(
> 
> I wish you all Happy Christmas, Hanukkah or Happy *insert your festivity´s name* !  
> Chear yourself up with chocolate!

"Marinette Dupaig-Cheng, will you marry me?"

Her bluebell eyes visibly widened, she was clearly completely lost as to what was really happening around her. She kept staring at Adrien's hopeful and fear-filled eyes.

"A-Adrien, not that I-I don't want to say yes... but-but isn't a little bit too soon? I-I mean you never really met my parents and..." Marinette stammered under the weight of her emotions.

Adrien's whole body slumped. Her answer hit him like a dagger in the chest. Of course he didn't want to have to propose to her like this. But what choices had he now? None. He wasn' t even sure that another marriage would be a den in his fathers' plans for him.

"You know I love you with all my heart, Adrien, but I feel like I'm missing something here..." Her eyes showed how helpless and lost she felt.

"My Lady... I...I may have kept some things secret about my identity..." He said carefully. He kept starring at their still joined hands, refusing to meet her eyes. He felt her stiffen at his words, making him rethink about the worst case scenarios he had made up in his head.

"W-what do you mean?" she answered shakily.

"My name really is Adrien. But I don't come from the kingdom of Astruc. I come from right here. From this kingdom." As Marinette kept silent, he knew he had to continue.

"Marinette, I love you sooo much! Please NEVER forget that! I' m begging you, please..." Hopelessness and despair dripping into his shaky voice.

"I-I..."

But before Marinette could say anything, did Adrien gather all his courage.

"I'm Prince Adrien Agreste."

The room filled with silence, but what made Adrien start to cry again was the void he could feel coming from Marinette. A void that was digging a whole between them, tearing them apart. Adrien decided to look up. Marinette seemed to be looking through him, her face completely expressionless... emotionless. Her grip had loosened around his hands as she tried to process what he had just admitted to her.

"You can hate me all you want now, because I deserve it. I deserve every insult you want to throw at me. I deserve it all! You could want to kill me and I would let you. And mostly I don't deserve your love."

He clutched at her now limp hands. Adrien didn't know if he would have preferred it if Marinette's fury had showed. Seeing her like this was even scarier. It was all his fault, he had lied to her and now he had crushed her perfect heart. His was also shattered inside his chest, but he had been living with the idea for a few weeks now and she didn't get any time to get used to it.

Tears streamed down her face.

"Are the rumors true?" he heard her finally murmur.

_What rumors?_

"Of your marriage to Marquise Bourgeois?" the cold, distant sound in her voice made him freeze and shudder at the same time.

"Yes... my father is adamant I marry her on my 21th Birthday." He sighed before bowing his head, resting his forehead on their hands, trying to hide as much behind his long blond bangs.

She slapped his hands away and stood up, marching up to the window, leaving Adrien behind her. She didn't want him to know how much this was affecting her. Tears streamed down on her face. She heard Adrien stand up, but not approach her. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as millions of unanswered questions flourished in her mind.

Why did he made her fall for him? Why did he keep it a secret this long? Why had she welcomed them inside her home? Why did she constantly fall for someone she couldn't have? (Of course Adrien was the first character that truly existed in her real life, but she kept getting crushes on book characters when she was younger.)

In the end, she found that nearly she was the only one to blame in this. He let her fall in love with him, so he could have some fun before being married of to some rich marquise in the capital. She blamed herself for thinking that it was the perfect love story she would be able to tell her children. That she gave her husband shelter and that she fell irrevocably in love, not letting her brain think about what was happening. She blamed her heart for leading her on, she blamed her naiveness.

Of course now all of her dreams had been crushed in just a few minutes. She was speechless. She was stunned that already a couple of minutes would enable you to be repeatedly killed and crushed like that.

Behind her stood Adrien. Adrien was slowly realizing that he had lost the  _love of his life_. And that he was going to marry the  _hate of his life_  for sure now. The whirlwind of his emotions was trying to force him to bow his head down, but Adrien wanted to keep looking at her. He wanted to burn her figure in his brain, notice every detail of her small frame once again, so he wouldn´t forget any of them. Every freckle on her bare arms, her slender, soft fingers, and the way she shifted on her feet. He couldn´t see her face, but he imagined her face and the dust of small freckles scattered perfectly on her round pale cheeks. He bit on his lips to stop himself from starting to cry once again, as he imagined the blush that would adorn her cheeks when he said something cheesy. He would never be able to see that again. And only he was to blame.

In the streets not far away, they could hear horses stumping down heavily on the cold blocks of stone of the street. A horde of strong horses were making their way down the street, each one was wearing the colours of the kingdom and the emblem of the Royal Guard. The hooves clicked on the cold stones, their braided main floating in the wind. A few men were screaming at the others, who were searching the houses on the whole village, determined to be the one who would find the Prince.

Someone knocked softly at the kitchen´s door. A few seconds later Nino entered.

Adrien knew.

_It´s time._

Adrien felt to sudden urge to run away. Simply take his horse and hide in the woods for a few days, before crossing the barrier delimiting the Miraculous kingdom. Maybe Marinette would agree to come? No… he had to stop thinking as if he hadn´t screwed up. Because he did.

Marinette saw a young man riding on a horse, right in front of the bakery´s entrance. She looked up to the grey sky, tears streaming down her face. She sniffled quietly hoping nobody would hear her and leave her in her own misery. She heard someone enter and exit the room shortly after. But she still could fell  _him._

"I guess this is goodbye…" he murmured loudly enough for her to hear.

Seeing she wasn´t turning around to face him, Adrien dared to take a couple of steps forward.

"Marinette, please look at me." He implored with a shaky voice. He needed to see her face one more time. Just one last time. Her body shook and whimpers left her mouth.

"I-I can-can´t." She cried, crushing every piece of Adrien´s shattered heart.

Adrien closed the distance between them. He rested his hands on her shoulders, her back still to him.

" I wish you the best in life, Marinette. You deserve so much, Marinette. I´ll be forever in debt to you. Goodbye Marinette." After squeezing her shoulders and breathing in her scent for the last time, did Adrien drop his hands and slowly exit the room, his feet dragging on the floor on his way out.

She could make out Nino´s shape outside through her teary vision. He was discussing to some guard wearing a metallic armour. Soon, she saw Adrien join his side. Adrien kept gazing at the snow-covered path underneath his feet. He was forced to climb into a golden carriage, showing Marinette once again how different their worlds were and how they could never have the future she had hoped for and dreamed of.

Adrien ever so slowly made his way inside the carriage, Nino following him inside. Soon, a few horsemen galloped to the front of the carriage, circling it, so nobody could attack the Prince. And then the carriage departed.

Once Marinette couldn´t see anything anymore, did she let herself fall down on the floor. Her knees and palms hit the ground hard, surely leaving big bruises behind. Her cries and screams could have disturbed the whole neighbourhood. She didn´t care. She didn´t care anymore. She must have looked pitiful she thought: a young girl, who´s dreams just got crushed and beaten down to nothing; a crying mess on the floor, not able to howl herself up to keep on doing the task her parents had given her. She didn´t know how long she cried, her throat was raw, her eyes and her whole body were exhausted. It could have been minutes, hours or days, she wouldn´t have noticed. When two arms wove around her small, fragile body, she cried even more as she immediately realized it was only her best-friend trying to soothe her and that this was definitly not just a bad dream.


	18. Chapter 18

Alya didn´t even try to tell her everything would be alright. She was Marinette´s best-friend, she knew Mairnette hated it when people said that or simply gave people false hope. Because Alya was practically sure that nothing would be alright for a while for Marinette. Alya didn´t even think there was any hope left for them, majorly due to the fact that Adrien was a Royal and that marrying a peasant wasn´t possible. So even Alya would like to do everything to heal her friend´s broken heart, she knew she was powerless in front of the God of Love and her best friend´s current misery.

How did she arrive so fast to Marinette´s? Well, she had been enjoying a peaceful morning with Nino. Suddenly the young man had stood frozen as he kept starring at the end of the busy street, not moving an centimeter, and probably not even breathing, even when she started to shake him out of his trance. Then she saw it herself: the Royal Guard. Nino lunged for her arm and dragged her into a dark alley.

"Ayla, I need you to tell you the truth. Adrien is not just Adrien, it´s Prince Adrien Agreste of Mircaulous." Everything seemed to click in her head now. Every unanswered question by Nino or Adrien. Still her jaw was lying on the ground, completly flabbergasted by the news.

Before she could say anything, Nino was already running down the alley and sprinting in the direction of the bakery, careful not to be seen by the Guards, as he kept glancing behind him to check if anybody was watching or following him. He was much faster than she was, so it took her way more time to get to the bakery. And by then, the Royal Guard was already in front of the bakery. She decided to lay low, and wait for an opportunity to go inside to see her friend. Soon, she saw Adrien leave through the front door with his head cast down. She tried to crane her neck to see Nino somewhere, but she only caught a glimpse of him as he entered the carriage after Adrien.

She had prayed on her way over for a happy ending for her friend. But as she arrived, she saw her friend crying like she had never seen before. Her own heart squeezed painfully as she saw how shattered Adrien had left her friend behind. Anger rose inside of her.

How could he have left her like that and make her fall for him, even though he already knew he was promised to someone else? Only a sick soul would do that. She was mostly angry at Adrien, but at Nino as well. He had said nothing. Not even a word to her, before it was too late. Maybe it was not his secret to tell, but her friend´s heart was at stake. And now he had left as well, not even a goodbye for her. Alya had thought he was a better man, and that their friendly relationship could have gone much further, but he had lied to her as well. Sadness washed over her as she realized she wouldn´t be seeing him as well; Marinette´s despair was greater than her sadness, so she decided to concentrate on her. Maybe she could a few answers out of her, once she would calm down.

After they had been on the cold floor tiles for an hour, Alya tried to howl Marinette up so they could get her to bed. Her friend was exhausted, her tears had stopped, but she wasn´t sure for how long. The sadness was sill written of her face, carving her red eyes and blotchy, red cheeks. Marinette let herself fall onto her parent´s bed. She let Alya slip off her shoes and throw the blanket above her. She fell asleep instantly.

Alya made her way back downstairs. She cleaned up the bakery´s atelier, before making her way to the shop, opening it, so a few customers could come and make some purchases. Like she had been taught by the Dupain-Chengs, Alya took care of every customer that entered the shop, until there was nothing left to sell. She then closed the shop and started to clean it as well.

After having closed the shops´ blinds, she made her way up to check of her friend. A neat white envelope caught her attention on the small table near the stairs. Something was written in a neat handwriting:

_Marinette_

Startled, Alya picked it up and weighed it in her hand. Something tinkled inside. Alya was sure her friend hadn´t seen this envelope, so she decided to bring it upstairs with her. Alya hoped maybe the letter would contain answers. She believed that since it hadn´t been sent by the post (due to the lack of stamp and briefmark), maybe Adrien or Nino were behind it.

She found Marinette gazing at the wall facing her, silent tears streaming in her face. Alya took a place on the bed next to her and set a plate down with some bread on the bed next to her friend.

Marinettes´ glossy eyes left the wall to look at her friend and shook her head, not feeling hungry at all. Alya sighed and dragged her friend half on her lap so she could caress her hair delicately, hoping it would soothe her, like when her mother did it to her. Marinette seemed too exhausted to cry. Only soft whimpers left her mouth from time to time, but the tears never stopped.

"H-He really-y is go-gone, is h-he?" Marinette stuttered with a broken voice.

"I´m sorry, Mari." Ayla responded.

They stayed silent until Marinette spoke up once again.

"What is it in your pocket?" Marinette asked curiously.

"I found it downstairs. It´s for you, Mari." Alya answered carefully. She grabbed the envelope from her pocket and handed it over to Marinette.

Marinette traced the cursive handwriting with the tip of her index finger, before flicking it to open it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Another chapter for you! Sorry that I didn´t get to update before the end of 2017. I intended on doing that, but well...  
> I hope you still liked it even if our sweethearts are now separated :(  
> A big thank you to all of you and your kind comments :D
> 
> Happy New Year!  
> Eat chocolate!


	19. Chapter 19

_My dear Marinette,_

 

_Marinette. I never thought about how much power and grace a name could show. I never thought I would have a favourite name in my entire boring life. It always seemed to be a girly thing to have a favourite name. But now I have one, one I could say on and on and never get tired of: Marinette._

_As a kid, I always looked up to my mother. I always thought she was the strongest, most determined person I would ever get to know. She would do anything for those she loved. And when she loved, it was with all her heart. But then I met you. And you Marinette, you love with all your heart and soul and so much more. I always looked up to my mother, but now I have someone else to look up too: you. Each day I wanted to be like my mother, love with as much passion as she did, but now when I look back I realize how much I did not attain my goal. Now I see that it´s not some goal you can reach, but something you have to live and fight for. It´s not like a simple quest, where you fight one bad guy and then you achieve it. I realized this, when I was next to you. You don´t even think about your love for others, it´s already an instinct for you to protect them from harms´ ways._

_When I first laid my eyes on you, I was already respecting you for your courage and your bravery. You were standing there, ready to defend yourself, not needing a horde of guards to do so. But what most impressed me then, was your kindness and understanding. You had the heart to welcome two strangers inside your home. Something most people wouldn´t do. But you had faith: faith in us or whomever, I wouldn´t know, but you had faith that we were good people. How many people would do that? Maybe you didn´t realize what you did on the moment, you realized only afterwards what you just did as you welcomed us into your house. But you gave us a chance to prove you, that we meant you no harm and still didn´t kick us out of your home, your safe-heaven. You gave us food, water, a warm place to sleep and didn´t expect anything in return._

_Although in return I broke your heart. And there is no one I blame more than myself. What I did Marinette… it´s unforgivable. I won´t ask for your forgiveness, I never will ask you to forgive me, because I simply don´t deserved to be forgiven. I know I shouldn´t be saying this anymore, but the truth is I can´t:_

 

_I love you, Marinette._

_With all my heart and all my soul, I love and will love you forever and ever._

 

_When I was younger than now, I always thought the only person I will ever love will be my mother. You proved me wrong._

_You never asked me any questions about my past or my family, since the first times you asked, you saw that I didn´t want to talk about it. You respected my privacy and now I wish you had pushed harder and that I would have told you everything sooner. Maybe we would have ended up like right now, maybe not. Maybe my heart wouldn´t be as broken as it is now. Nobody knows how it would have ended up._

_I don´t know how much you remembered from our conversation, before I left your side, so I decided to explain everything to you once again:_

_My name is Adrien Agreste of House Miraculous. I´m going to turn 21 in a few weeks. My father (King Gabriel Agreste) has decided to combine my birthday with my marriage._

_I need you to know and implore you to remember: the marriage was not my idea._

_When my father told me about it less year ago, I was furious. And you know what the worse was? I couldn´t show any of it. I couldn´t tell him how terrible I found his idea and mostly I couldn´t say no. My father may try to show that we have a good relationship, but everyone in the castle and I know better. You know how much of a tyrant he is, always treating the kingdoms´ citizen like his slaves and inferior. He treats me like that as well. I have no word in what so ever. My life is entirely controlled by him. My steps are always followed. He didn´t even ask for my opinion on the bride he chose or anything in the matter. Something inside of me snapped. I still don´t know how I managed to convince, something along "getting to know the land I would be reigning on", but I managed to convince him to let me make a one-year trip before my birthday/wedding. Accompanied by Nino, who had become more a friend than a valet, we made our way across the Miraculous land, I wanted to visit small villages, more than the large towns._

_Nino almost convinced me not to go to the furthest place away from the capitol. I nearly wouldn´t have gone to your village. I persisted; I wanted to see how the people were living near the border._

_Then the snow storm hit. And I never in my entire life would have thought that a snow storm would be the best thing that could have happened in my entire life._

_I got to meet you:_

_Marinette Dupain-Cheng_

_Owner of My Heart_

 

_My father always refused for me to have some interactions with people of my age, much less girls. Being next to you, with you, was a totally new experience to me. I want to excuse myself if I stepped out of line or seemed quite stuck up next to you. I didn´t and still don´t know how to act around you. You make me speechless. Everything you do, you do it with your heart and soul and with that smile … thinking about it makes me always swoon._

_Your heart and soul are so pure, Marinette. You will have to take my word for it. I have seen some pretty tainted souls and heart where I come from. The capital is filled with empty, vice souls and hearts. Being next to you was… freeing! I am now addicted to this feeling. Knowing what is about to come, saddens me deeply, but the worst is going to be living with knowing I hurt you, and broke the permanent smile on your face and your trust and faith in other human beings._

_I´ve never felt better than here, right by your side. You opened my heart and mind to so many wonderful possibilities that I thought I wouldn´t get in all my life. Even if the stars pulled us apart, I still want to thank them that I crossed your path and I want to you to know that you only will hold my heart forever. And I wouldn't it to be anyone else. It was a blessing to get to meet you._

_I didn´t realize the profoundness of my feelings right on, but after we shared our first kissed, I realized that you were the only thing that I needed in my life. You are the only thing I wanted, want and will always want. But I am a coward, My Lady. A coward, who isn´t able to step up against his father, so he can live his dreams. You know what I told myself our first kiss? I was panicking, because I didn´t know how you truly felt. I told myself to let fate decide what would happen to us. This shows perfectly how much of a coward I truly am. I claim I want to fight for those I love, but I let fate decide what is going to happen between the love of my life and myself. To say that I´m disappointed in myself is an understatement. Now I have to shoulder the guilt I will have to live with for the rest of my life. I deserve the guilt. I deserve your anger, fury, disappointment. I don´t deserve your forgiveness._

_Marinette, I bid you goodbye and wish you will be able to forget me and find peace in your heart. Time heals you slowly, I know it myself. Though now I won´t let time heal me, it was starting to heal the wound my mother´s death left behind, but now my heart is shattered in billions of pieces and I frankly don´t want it to be healed. I don´t deserve to be healed after what I did to you, it was heartless, so should I be._

 

_Yours forever,_

_Adrien_

 

Marinette didn´t how she managed to read the whole letter in one go without stopping to cry her heart out. Tears were streaming down her round cheeks, but she kept reading until the end. Alya hastily took the papers so she wouldn´t stain them. She probably wanted to read them later, but for now she was trying to console her friend. Marinette quietly cried inot her friend´s shoulder. She felt awfully cold inside. like something within her had died and was leaching at her warmth. Ashiver ran though her, mkaing Alya hug her tighter, before covering her friend´s shoulders with a small blanket that was nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I just couldn´t wait to post Adrien´s letter.  
> I hope you liked it! :)  
> Thank you for all of your kudos and kind comments :) 
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strong emotions!

Meanwhile, a horde of men on horses and a carriage made their way rapidly towards the capital.

Adrien was silent. He kept his head bowed down, eyes closed, hunched over himself, tears streaming down his face. Blame and guilt were burning him alive. Nino had stayed silent for now.

Why hadn´t he listened to his friend? Nino had tried to warn him, but he had shoved him off.

His heart had longed for Marinette and didn´t want to be stopped and now it was broken. His mind was still back there with her, he didn´t even register the moment they halted in front of a mansion. It was one of his father´s private domains. The carriage halted in front of the large entrance. A guard stepped off his horse and opened the carriage.

"We will be staying the night here, Prince Agreste. Please be ready tomorrow morning for 6 o´clock, we will be leaving shortly after."

Adrien simply nodded and jumped out of the carriage not even waiting for Nino to follow him, he entered the mansion and made his way upstairs in one of the chambers. One he reached the end of the hall, he opened the door and slammed it shut behind him, the sound resonating in the entire hallway. The moment the door closed behind him, Adrien slumped forward and landed on the bed. He buried his head under one of the pillows and threw the thick blankets above him. Soon his body started to convulse as he tried to hold back his tries. But even though his will not to cry was strong, his despair and heartache were stronger. His cries and whimpers were muffled by the covers and the pillow. He felt like he was suffocating, his lungs not inflating enough anymore, due to the cries he could stop. He once caught the flue and felt like everything hurt, but now he realized how wrong he had been. Now everything hurt. Someone could have repeatedly buried a knife in his heart and he was sure it would have hurt less.

The broken shards of his heart felt like they were rotting inside his chest. He felt awful. He felt like a monster: who could he crush and make such a beautiful lively girl cry?

Only his father would do something like that. Maybe he was like his father... maybe it as better that he wasn´t with her, next to her anymore. She deseved better than someone like his father.

* * *

Two weeks passed in those Marinette´s parents had come home from a trip to visit their family on the other side of the kingdom and hadn´t recognized their daughter at their arrival. They asked for answer on her abnormal state, but Marinette kept everything to herself and told her she was just exhausted from working alone with a dead voice. Her parents didn´t believe, but also didn´t push her since she already seemed exhausted.

She didn´t smile, she didn´t laugh, she didn´t have enough power to help at the bakery anymore. She would barely eat. She mostly would stay hunched inside in her bedroom, buried under the covers she had never changed since  _he_ left.

She would hide her tears and sorrow, like an expert in front if her parents. BUt she didn´t know that they could her crying her heart out each night.

Tom and Sabine Dupain had tried to talk to her, slowly bring up the subject. They hearts ached to see their daughter suffer in silence like that, but they couldn´ do anything without her telling them. They had never seen their daughter so heart-broken. It was not the Marinette they knew that greeted them when they came back. They couldjust hope that time would heal her and that maybe one day she would open up to them.

* * *

Alya´s heart broke each time she would visit her friend, watching her slowly sink into a black inferno, not wanting to get out of it. Anger rose within her as she knew who caused this. He had been right in front of her nose, and she had pushed her friend towards him, only thinking about the happy end her friend deserved. She had completely forgotten that more bad than good would rise from this. She had been blinded by her friend´s happiness and hadn´t anticipated the possible consequences. She hated herself for it. It was her job as a best-friend to keep her friend form getting her heart broken by some boy.

She had failed as her job as best-friend.

Tom and Sabine had tried to get information out of her. She could see how worried they were about her, but she couldn´t tell them. It was not her place to tell. And even if she did tell them: it wouldn´t change anything.

Marinette refused to talk about it. Each time she tried to make her friend talk, Marinette would stay silent or dash out of the room and go take care of Tikki.

* * *

Nino wanted to tear his hair out.

Why hadn´t he insisted more that he tell her?

Why hadn´t he done it?

Why did he leave his best-friend believe in fate? Both him and Adrien knew that fate wouldn´t have helped their tragic cause! He had failed at his job of best-friend. He had done a good job at bringing him back alive from their trip, right for his birthday and marriage, but Adrien had lost his heart and soul on the way. He didn´t know whom to blame.

Should he blame God and this unfair earth and society?

Should he blame the King himself from being the one to force Adrien to marry?

Should he blame Adrien for being so careless with his emotions? Should he blame himself? Nino spent most of his time blaming the unfair chaos reigning on their planet. Sometimes he would blame the King, but rarely himself or Adrien.

How could he blame his friend?

Could someone blame him for falling in love with an incredible young woman? He knew that Adrien had always believed in having a soulmate and he had found her during a stormy night. On one hand Nino didn´t want to believe in fate, but on the other hand how could he not? His friend had found his soulmate in an improbable situation.

And he had met one of the most interesting girls in the very same village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Sorry for not updating. I had to learn for my finals. Plus now I am having a little trouble writing since my laptop doesn´t work very well (the "w" "r" an "i" don´t work most of time, so if you see a typo - I´m sorry :(
> 
> This was a small filler chapter. I hope to update in two weeks :)
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	21. Chapter 21

Grabbing the biggest coat she had as well as a blanket, Marinette decided to take her parents advice and go outside.

The days were slowly getting warmer, the snow in the ground was starting to melt too reveal a few patches of grass, who were beginning to grow and turn a wonderful shade of green, that made Marinette´s heart hurt every time she saw it. The morning sun was warming her frozen face as she made her way to the stable. Tikki greeted her by nudging Mari with her head.

Silently Marinette jumped on her horses back and they began their journey towards a small hill near the village. The snow crunched under Tikki´s hooves. Once arrived, Marinette jumped down, while Tikki lay down. Leaning against her trusted horse, Marinette sat down, enveloping herself with the blanket she had brought. She tried to not think about anything, hoping to rest, but to no avail. She couldn´t stop thinking about him. She felt powerless, she was powerless. Nobody could change what was about to happen in a month. His future had already been written and there was no space in his life for her.

Helpless and hopeless: those emotions reflected themself in each one of her designs since he had been gone. The world had always been full of colours and endless possibilities for her, but now she could only consider using the colours black or grey.

How much she wanted to hate him! She had tried desperately the first two weeks after his sudden departure. She couldn´t do it. She couldn´t possibly hate him. Even after the suffering he had inflicted her, she loved him. She still loved him with all her heart. She didn´t notice the silent tears running down her cheeks as she tilted her head up towards the sunny sky. She held back a sob. She had hoped that the sun and its warmth would be able to keep him out of her mind, but everything around her reminded her of him.

It had been a month since she had seen him. She felt like it had been ten years. She felt like the hole on her heart was only expending and not healing. The world appeared to not stop crumbling around her.

* * *

On the other side of the kingdom, a lonely broken soul made his way through the large empty halls.

Adrien dreaded the moment he would have to face his father. The King had not yet demanded his presence in his office, so Adrien didn´t think it to be necessary to go on his own free will. Not that he had a free will anyway.

The padding of his feet was dulled by the thick carpets on the wooden floors. And even if it was the beginning of April, the spring´s sun had not showed at the capital. Thick grey clouds casted shadows on the portraits disposed on the walls of the floor. Adrien kept his head cast down as he made his way to his chambers. The door creaked open and he slumped inside, deciding to lie down on his lounge chair next to the large window. He could see the gardeners tending the flower bushes who were ready to bloom for the day of his marriage.

His eyes closed against his will. His body was exhausted from the sleepless nights and hours of crying. Nothing helped to soothe him, not even the special tea that Mme. Bustier would prepare him. She kept quiet about his catatonic state and he was thankful for that. The worst was when he woke up after dreaming of Marinette in his arms, only to find himself alone in his large, cold room.

Only Mari could save him, but he was absolutely sure that she didn´t want to have to do anything with him anymore.

A dull knock resonated in his large room. Before he could say something, someone opened the door. It happened to be Nathalie Sancoeur, one of the people Adrien didn´t want to have to deal with right now.

"Prince Agreste, your King wishes to speak to you." She ordered him. She stood straight in the middle of his room, looking at him with piercing eyes.

He knew he didn´t have a choice. He had known for years now that he never had a choice. Reluctantly he stood up and followed Nathalie towards his father´s grand office.

Mme. Sancoeur knocked on the heavy door, a dull sound resonating in the large hallway. Soon she opened and let Adrien enter the office on his own. His father clearly wanted to only speak to him.

The King was sitting at his desk, bent over of pile of papers that he was probably reviewing. Adrien slowly walked over to the golden desk, standing next to one of the cushioned seats. He stood there tense, waiting for his father to somehow start the conversation. He refused to show his father how much he truly made him squirm. He didn´t want to show him the power he still held over him.

He could have been standing there only a few seconds or a few minutes, Adrien couldn´t tell before his father finally seemed to acknowledge his presence.

"What are you saying for your defence?" His father asked harshly with an expressionless face. Adrien swallowed loudly.

He was fed up. Fed up to have to play the perfect son. Fed up to keep smiling, while everything good in his life had disappeared and everything was crumbling down inside of him. He couldn´t care anymore, after the heartbreak he had been through. It was as if the very moment he realized that he didn´t control anything in his life at all. He hadn´t controlled anything since he had been little and already able to make decisions. It was always his father imposing his wishes on him.

After his heart had been shattered in millions of pieces a few days ago, Adrien was realizing that his mind couldn´t cope with his father´s temper. The last few days he had been crying and tormented by the fact that he would never see the love of his life again, never hear from her again. His life couldn´t be worse, than it would be, is now without Marinette. He asked himself why he had been so tense before coming in, he didn´t have any answer, but now he felt his shoulders relax or the first time in a few days. He was tired, heartbroken and mostly hopeless to ever have somewhat of an own say and his own life.

"To what accusations?" Adrien replied indifferently, before sitting down in one of the seats facing his father´s desk without permission. His heart didn´t even pick up once his father furiously glare at him.

"You disrespected our agreement! I should have never let you leave Paris! And I am not even talking about your impoliteness and lack of obedience yet." His father said with a deadly-calm voice that usually would make the hair rise at the back of his neck.

"Well it´s not like I could do anything to change the weather…" Adrien trailed off as he stared outside where the sun was shining bright through the heavy grey clouds.

"Are you mocking me now?" His father said. Adrien wasn´t quite sure if he heard a note of disbelief in his voice.

"I´m sure the soldiers already told you everything. So why don´t you cut to the chase?" Adrien suggested.

"Well then…" His father said as he tried to recompose himself. "It was reported that you had been staying with the locals and not even a proper hotel, like we had discussed." The King Agreste started.

"Yes, it is true."

"Who were they?" His father demanded. Adrien stood stock still in his seat. He surely didn´t want to bring Marinette and her family any trouble. He knew his father was capable of cruel things and simply imagining what he could make his soldiers do to innocent people made a shiver run violently through him.

"Well known locals, whose name I didn´t remember…" Adrien attempted with a calm voice. His father stayed silent at first, before his eyes narrowed in his son´s face and his eyebrows furrowed.

"I was reported that you were staying with a local girl… unmarried if I can add." Gabriel said. Adrien chose to stay silent.

"Since I already have so much to do, be happy I let this one go… I wanted to reconsider you opinion on marrying Mlle. Bourgeois on another day as your birthday, but I announce that you will be married before the clock hits 3 pm on the day of your birthday. And your official guard is going to change. I know this is something I should have done a long time ago." Adrien clasped his hands tightly together, crushing them against one another. His eyes looked once again outside as tears rose in his eyes.

"Is this all, Father?" Adrien asked. Before the king could nod, Adrien was already standing up and leaving the room.

* * *

Adrien came back to his room, no energy left in his bones to do something else than lying in his bed for the rest of the day. His conversation with his father had been awful, well rather the monologue his father held, like always Adrien hadn´t been able to say one word. Say how he truly felt. How ridiculous he thought the wedding was; how unhappy he was.

His father wouldn´t have understood anyway… he had always used Adrien. Only considering him as his heir and not his son.

It made quite a difference for Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> So I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter. I didn´t want to write a huge conversation between Adrien and his father, I hope that it was still alright :)
> 
> I hope I will be able to update soon, this story still has few chapters left (I still have to write them), but the end of the story is nearing.
> 
> Eat chocolate!


	22. Chapter 22

"Mr. Agreste? Miss Bourgeois will be shortly arriving. The King requested you spent the afternoon and dinner by her side." One of his fathers´ valet said as he barged into the room unannounced. The King´s valets had always thougth they were allowed to do anyhting, since they were working directly for the King.

Adrien kept starring out of the window. The sun was out today, but his mood wished it would rain and ruin everything in the castle´s garden, he wished the weather would reflect his feelings. The bright colours of the flowers and flower bushes made him sick. His dull green eyes slowly moved to look at the entrance of the castle to see a bright yellow carriage making its way towards the castle.

Adrien finally stood up slowly, knowing he didn´t have any choice and took his time to get downstairs in order to greet his guests. His face stayed emotionless, his posture tense as he descended down the grand, red carpeted stairs to the main hall.

 

He hadn´t even made one step into the blue salon, where the guests would always wait to be welcomed from the Royals, before someone launched themselves on him.

"Adrichou! I´m so glad you are finally back!" A shrill high voice pierced his ears, a blond ponytail smashing against his face, effectively blocking hisview and tickling his nose. She jumped on him, hugging him so tightly he could hardly breathe.

"I´m glad you back and that your birthday is approaching! It´s great that you were born in May! Imagine having a winter wedding!" The young blond woman said with a horrified expression. Adrien sighed; people kept reminding him of his birthday and oncoming marriage, he didn´t want to be constantly reminded. And he sure as hell didn´t want to be reminded of is marriage by his official fiancée.

He was little relieved as she finally let him go. He could finally breathe without her cloud of perfume engorging and burning his lungs and throat, the stinging in his eyes lessened.

Mlle. Chloé Bourgeois didn´t even notice that Adrien hadn´t even greeted her,, he hadn´t even said a word, before she started complaining about her tailor whom it had taken more than a hundred retouches, so that her dress could fit perfectly.

Adrien restrained himself from commenting that her bright yellow dress didn´t make her look like the sun, but more like a chicken. He couldn´t help but realized how much he hated yellow… blue and pink would be his absolute favourite until the end of time.

 

During their walk in the garden outside his fiancée kept talking about her ´sumptuous´ dresses, the planning for her wedding, her joy to finally get married to him. Adrien wasn´t even trying to listen to her talk. She only needed herself for a conversation, so he didn´t need to listen. Even if his parents had educated him to always listen and be nice, friendly and open towards everyone, Chloé was the exeption had had made to the rule his mother had branded inside his brain.

He couldn´t help but imagine some else by his side. Taking a walk, maybe even hand in hand, through the large flowery bushes, he now had grown to hate, but used to love. Maybe they would explore the small forest behind the castle. He had never been allowed to go there on his own, but with her at his side, he would break all the rules and leave with her to explore the forest. He would show her his secret spot. His mother and him would always go there on sunny summer days, enjoying the sun burning their skin as they would lay down next to a small pond, admiring the clouds in the sky, feeling the warm sunbeams warming their skins.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as a screech resonated between his ears. He was suddenly aware that his dreams would never come true. His heart´s chosen would never be here, right next to his side. Beacuse he was about to be married to another...

"Prince Adrien! Look ! You should fire your gardeners! How could they be so careless to leave dirt on the pathway like this! My beautiful dress is stained!" Chloé said enraged, before she started to cry on his shoulders, putting all of her weight on him. He grunted at the weight, before forcing her to stand up correctly.

"You´re in a garden, Mlle. Bourgeois. It is perfectly normal for there to be dirt." He said trying not to sound too harsh, knowing the guards would report everything to his father. He couldn´t care less if they told him, but Adrien didn´t want to have to talk to his father.

After Mlle. Bourgeois had finally calmed down, the sun was finally setting and they made their way back from the far end of the garden towards the castle. Chloé clung unto his arm, resting her head against his shoulder. He had tried to gently pry her away, but without any success. Mlle. Bourgeois didn´t seem to want to get the hint that this was making him extremely uncomfortable.

 

_Well… I guess if I´m getting married to her, I have to get used to this…_

 

A heavy sigh escaped him, which Chloé ignored. He was relieved when she finally let go of his arm as they entered the castle. A valet guided them through the large halls towards the dining room, where dinner would be served. Adrien was starting to grow another headache with how much Mlle. Bourgeois kept talking. He was glad when dinner finally arrived at the table, making her shut up… at least he thought she would stop talking, but apparently dinner wasn´t to her liking.

Too fatty, too cold, too warm, too greasy… her list of complaints went on and on. Mlle. Raincomprix who had quietly followed them in the garden as Mlle. Bourgeois´s court lady, stayed quiet and was forced to report to the cuisine to cook something else for Mlle. Bourgeois. Adrien asked himself how this woman could stand being with her 24/7.

Never had Adrien felt so relieved when Mlle. Bourgeois finally entered her carriage and departed to head to her own property.

He dragged his heavy and tired feet up the grand stairs and marched slowly up to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eat chocolate!


	23. Chapter 23

His feet patted on the heavy, carpets on the floor that had been lying there for centuries, he barely glanced at the different portraits of the Agreste family hanging in the large hallway, one of each member vene the distant ones. He stopped in front of a specific painting. It was one of the largest in this particular hall, the frame had aged slightly, the golden designs had been fading lightly with the sunlight.

It pictured a beautiful young woman sitting in a wooden chair outside in a garden. She had long, wavy blond hair that was braided lightly on the side of her face that reflected the sunlight brightly. Her green eyes seemed to be looking at something a little further away. Her bright green eyes were glowing with joy and with wide smile showed just how happy and what a lively person she was. Around her lithe fingers were small white and yellow wild flowers. The woman seemed to be utterly contented, cheerful and carefree. It looked like she didn´t want to be anywhere else in the world.

**_Émilie Agreste_ **

**_1976-2008_ **

Adrien missed his mother dearly. She would be the only he could and would confined in. He wanted to talk to her so badly right now. He just felt how much he missed her when everything kept going south for him.

A stray tear escaped him, but he quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand, passing his hands in his unruly hair.

"Prince Agreste?" A small voice started behind him. He whipped around, clearly not used to the fact to cross somebody´s path at this time of the day and less used to being talked to.

The elderly woman bowed in respect, her eyes stayed cast down in respect.

"Can I help you, Madame?" He asked politely, taking a step forward towards the woman.

"Sir, I´m sorry for interrupting you, but I thought that maybe you would like to know the background of this painting?" She asked warily. Adrien gave her a confused frown, which made her smile. "Oh… it is a dear memory of mine. I thought I could share it with you." She explained.

"Of course. Please, tell me." Adrien urged.

"Your mother was a wonderful woman. You were only a couple of years old, when the painting was done. Your mother had requested the painting to be done outside, since the weather was so pleasant. She went outside with you in her arms, holding you tightly. She wanted to be painted with you, but since you were an active four year old, she set you down and you dashed away to run in the garden. You came back a few minutes later with those small flowers you had picked and wove them around her fingers. She was truly beaming, just like each time she spent time with you. Since the painter was getting nervous because of the rapid change of light. Your mother caught his discomfort and sat you down on the grass nearby and took out two small cars out of her pocket and handed them to you. You kept playing with them, your mother watching you, while the painter immortalized the scene."

Adrien stared at the painting again, taking his mother´s features in.

"Your mother had asked you to stay close and play, while the oainting was being done. And you sat quietly on the grass enjoying chasing after the ants and small insects on the grass, running around after the butterflies or simply lay down and played with your cars, while your mother kept a close eye on you." She explained with a fond smile grazing her slips at the memory.

"Thank you." He murmured. The woman bowed before leaving Adrien alone.

After a few minutes, Adrien finally moved and headed towards his chamber. The sun had set a long time ago, making his room appear colder than it already was. A few candles had been lit by the servants, casting a light glow in the room, enough for him to not knock something over.

He threw himself on his large bed, burying his face into his silk comforter, before turning his head and slitting his eyes open.

His eyes widened once they had adjusted to the light and he saw a large black box right next to him. His brows furrowed, trying to remember if it had been here before, but nothing popped into his mind. He had never seen such a bow inside f his bedroom or even in the castle. He abruptly sat up and opened the box, intrigued as to what he was going to find inside and who could have possibly have left this here. It´s not as if it could come from his father, that he knew for sure.

Inside a small white envelope was placed on top of some paper which hid something beneath it. His hands shook as he slowly reached for the back of the envelope and proceeded to open it carefully, taking the small piece of paper out.

" **Amor Vincit Omnia** "

" _Love conquers all"_ Adrien automatically traduced in his head.

That is all that was written on the small note inside the large black box. He was in a sort of haze as he kept staring at the note in his hands, having no idea why this particular quote was written on it. Curious, Adrien took the paper hiding away what was in the box. His eyes roamed a black piece of clothing. His hands touched the leathery material before grapping a fistful of it and extending his arms. His eyes widened the moment he realized it was an entire black leather suit. He draped the suit over his bed, before turning over to the box again. His eyes had caught something else inside. His hands trembled as he held up the black mask. His fingers traced the curved sharp edges and the pointed nose. And even if it had to be the strangest gift he had ever received in his miserable, short, lonely life Adrien´s eyes brightened in the dim-lit room. For the first time Adrien wasn´t hopeless anymore, he knew exactly what he had to do and should have done from the beginning on.

He folded the suit carefully and packed it back in the box, hiding the box in his huge walk-in closet, before lying on his bed to concentrate in order to concoct his plan, a smile illuminating his face for the first time in months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eat chocolate!


End file.
